🎙️ Xavi ahead of #ElClásico tomorrow: "We will approach the match in the same way we normally play against Madrid. A difficult opponent, we have already suffered from them this year in their stadium..."
🎙️ Xavi: "It'll be very difficult, but I think everything will be decided at Camp Nou, as happened in the Europa League, but we will go out to win."
🎙️ Xavi: "For us it's a Cup semi-final with the addition that it's a Clásico. I think they are favourites despite the losses we have, because they are the current League and Champions League champions. Regardless of the Super Cup, I think Madrid is favourite."
🎙️ Xavi: "We have to be more of a team than ever, the small details make the difference in these games. We have to be very brave. In any possession loss they create danger for us with their counters and they know how to take advantage of them with Vinicius, Benzema and Rodrygo."
🎙️ Xavi, on Ansu Fati: "Today he has returned to training with the group, and it is great news that it was only a concussion. I see him very happy, very motivated for tomorrow and he must be important for us."
🎙️ Xavi: "Be brave and a clean slate. It's an opportunity for us to win a title. I think we have to change the chip, it's a good opportunity."
🎙️ Xavi: "We must give Ferran Torres confidence, I'm one of the culprits for him being here. We are giving him confidence to be important, it's already been so in the past and must be so in the present and future. He has the capacity to make a difference, we have blind faith."
🎙️ Xavi: "Madrid has won the titles last year, both the League and the Champions League. It's true that we won the Super Cup, and we also played extraordinary football, but they came from thrashing Liverpool, and I think they're favourites, I must be honest."
🎙️ Xavi: "Pedri is an essential footballer for us, he has grown a lot, to the point of making a difference with arrivals in the area, goals and the last pass. Tomorrow we have the losses of Pedri, Dembélé and Lewandowski, but I think we can compete just the same."
🎙️ Xavi: "I go to the Bernabéu with motivation, desire, I always like to play there, I'm very culé and like it. It motivates me much more than other types of matches, I'd love to be able to play. That's why I tell my players to dare, because winning there is a very nice feeling."
🎙️ Xavi: "If we focus on where we are, the semi-final of the Cup and seven points ahead of Madrid in the League, having won a Super Cup, well I think the picture is being quite good. We have rarely been inferior to our rival this year. The team continues growing."
🎙️ Xavi: "Everything that happens will mark the season. If we win or if we don't beat Valencia. If we win tomorrow or not... the defeat in Almería has also marked us. From being in an excellent position, we are at a notable high... last year we were insufficient."
🎙️ Xavi: "If the idea was to make me less exited, you've succeeded. I see everything as an opportunity. Coming from last year, I'm euphoric. We have the Super Cup and we can win the League and Cup, so go for it."
🎙️ Xavi: "We're fine, from within we always analyse the reason for the defeat. The other day we didn't defend the goal play well and we didn't attack in the best possible way. But this game is another story, and on Sunday it will be another. We are in an ideal situation."
🎙️ Xavi: "Now we are enjoying the situation. What can go wrong? Yes, of course, but for now we are enjoying it. Our role is to try not to make it go wrong."
🎙️ Xavi: "I don't think the referees are going to be decisive. I don't like to win by cheating and I don't think they've ever helped us, you know that."
🎙️ Xavi: "Estanis Pedrola is in great form, and we believe that with the casualties we have in attack, now he can help us."
🎙️ Xavi: "I'm usually not affected by what the environment says. What worries me the most is that it doesn't affect the players. We're in a perfect situation to win titles and what we have to do is compete for them. We know the critics perfectly."
🎙️ Xavi: "If we had won in Almería we would have achieved the best score in the history of the League. I think that little has been said about this, little has been said."
🎙️ Xavi: "We've had a talk, the players have also criticized themselves, we've seen each other's faces, we've talked... I think that's going well."
🎙️ Xavi: "Vinicius is an exceptional player, he is generating a lot of danger, he makes a difference, he is at a very high level, and we will have to watch him a lot."
🎙️ Xavi, on his wins at the Bernabéu: "I remember the 2-6 a lot, other comebacks, moments in which we have seen ourselves much superior... but they were other times... but they compete very well at the moment of truth, that's why I say they are favourite."
🎙️ Xavi: "It's a privilege, we always talk about opportunities, the privilege of playing for Barça and playing Clásicos... for me, as a Culé, it's the best to play the Clásico, to be able to win and enjoy it."
🎙️ Xavi, on Ángel Alarcón: "They are all options. I have a lot of confidence in him, I like him, a versatile footballer, he goes well in depth, he's strong... he can be useful for Barça, both in the present and in the future."
🎙️ Xavi: "Unnecessary tension was generated in Mourinho's time, but I think that's in the past, we can't set the bad example of that stage, now I think it's clear that there is a lot of sportsmanship for both teams."
🎙️ Xavi: "A victory would be very good for us, compete well, have the feeling of winning and play well, but the last time we went they beat us well. It will be competed, and there will be another, back, in April at the Camp Nou."
🎙️ Xavi: "People on the street tell us that we are in a good moment. That it was a shame to lose the opportunity the other day. We Culés feel. The defeat the other day made me very angry, but we must continue and compete tomorrow."
🎙️ Xavi on Araújo: "Wherever he is, Araújo is a winner, one of the best defenders in the world right now, wherever he plays, he is a fundamental piece for us."
🎙️ Xavi: "Barça has to win, then we'll see what happens, but Barça's intention is to always win, in every game... we didn't sign for a draw as a result, we want to win."
Loading suggestions...