Xavi: "We have removed the complexes"

Ansu Fati celebrates his goal against Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.- (AFP)

With only a few rales left to the game, Pedri tickled the post from the outside after a shot from the edge of the area and put his hands on his head. Later, after a lateral center from Alba, Ansu invented a Chilean in the small area but did not catch the ball well and missed the shot. He also put his hands on his head, at least half a minute. And in the next attack, badly finished by Dembélé, the referee inflated his cheeks three times to whistle the end. Alba collapsed on the grass; Pedri dropped down while removing his shin guards, finally lifted by Xavi; Ansu rubbed his face with sorrow; and Araujo knelt for a moment that seemed eternal. All of them received, however, the sports congratulations of the Madrid players. "I can not complain about mine,their commitment is total ”, accepted Xavi. But the blaugrana were of little use to their spirits because although they did not say it out loud, there were quite a few in the locker room with faith in breaking the streak of four consecutive defeats in the classics.

Falling in extra time was painful and Piqué left the pitch first, very enraged.

But they stopped him to attend to the media.

"We have competed and losing against Madrid hurts, it's a shame," accepted the central defender.

Xavi showed the same: "I'm sad and angry because it's a defeat in a classic and we say goodbye to a title."

Araujo also saw it as similar: "You have to correct things."

But, far from taking the defeat as an end point as happened in the last great debacles, the Barcelona speech was most constructive.

Stop transitions

"We have removed the complexes and we have shown that we can compete against anyone," Xavi resolved with a voice punished by the shouts he had uttered during the match. “The team has arrived caught with tweezers, with many coming back from covid, injuries… We have played at a very high level and after months of not competing, the new ones have given a very good level. The only bad thing is that we go home, "added Piqué. “It is evidence that Ferran and Pedri lacked a bit of rhythm. Like Ansu and Memphis ... But they have all been good. And if it comes out heads and Barça wins, nothing would have happened. We have also deserved it ”, Xavi completed.

It happened that Barça lost a ball in someone else's field and did not return in time, little protected against the vertiginous transitions of Madrid. "They are our mistakes, of not stopping against against us, of losing balls in areas that we should not, especially from the people at the top who are not responsible with the ball and that translates into a counter that becomes a goal," Xavi lamented. "We have taken many risks, we have gone for the game and they have won the semifinal in a match in which we have not been able to return," added Piqué.

But Xavi understood that he had to risk.

“It was clear to me that it was a day of courage and responsibility with the ball and of taking away the complexes.

We can't say it out loud because we've lost and we're going home.

But I put a double pivot and a defense of three knowing that it was a risk and we had the 3 to 2 ... We have been superior to Madrid at times ”, he agreed.

And he insisted on his speech: “So despite the defeat, it is a day in which we have removed the complexes.

In the first 20 minutes we played with fear, but we corrected ourselves and we can leave with our heads held high ”.

You can follow EL PAÍS DEPORTES on