Xavi Hernández talks to Eric García, during Barcelona training. Enric Fontcuberta (EFE)
Xavi Hernández, coach of Barcelona, has requested the support of the Barça fans to receive Cádiz in the League match on Monday (9:00 p.m.) after 35,000 Eintracht fans took over the Camp Nou last Thursday in the second leg of the Europa League quarterfinals.
“We need the fans more than ever and I hope that the public is with the team;
the other day we missed him”.
“It was a very hard blow, a blow, because European competition was one of our goals along with qualifying for the Champions League”, he insisted after warning that the atmosphere of the stadium affected the team's performance against Eintracht.
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“It's not an excuse, but what happened conditioned us, we don't feel comfortable”, Xavi reiterated.
“I guess the club will give an explanation, first to us and then to the people.
In any case, it was a mistake and at least you have to ask that it not happen again.
You feel as if you weren't at home the day you play for a place in the semi-finals”.
The coach explained that the day “started and ended badly” because “before the game we already had to go out behind the hotel and they also threw everything at us.
We were also unable to enter with the coach through the first tunnel of the stadium;
we had to go around the stadium.
You feel robbed in your house.”
Xavi has asked for a "dedicated, faithful and loyal to the club" fans to achieve the "minimum objective" of qualifying the team for the next edition of the Champions League.
The coach has praised precisely the usual behavior of the fans.
“I already said that I have known another stadium since I came back”, he commented.
“Except for what happened on Thursday, our people have been closer to us than ever.
There is a before and after of the Grada d'Animació”.
Xavi, who is still without Piqué, awaits the reaction of the team, which has dropped its performance since 0-4 at the Bernabéu: “We haven't played that well in the last three games.
We have lowered the level compared to the games against Sevilla and Madrid and we lost the ball more times than ever, but we will recover it.
It is a process that requires patience.
We have to keep believing in what we do.
We must not forget that it is a process of changing the game model.
Our life is going in our qualification for the Champions League.
And it will be very complicated.
You have to recover."
There are no doubts, on the other hand, about Barça's football ideology.
“We can't lurch, but rather believe and improve in what we do”, Xavi settled.
“We have won five Champions with this style.
The DNA has to do this and to respond to those who doubt what you have to do is improve”.
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