Xavi believes that Napoli ‘dominated’ Barcelona during their Champions League Round of 16 meeting on Wednesday evening, but only for 10 minutes, which is why the Catalans had to settle for a draw, the coach has said.
The Barcelona boss conducted his customary LaLiga pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of his side’s game against Getafe, during which he made several assessments on the midweek trip to Naples.
He explained that Barcelona cannot really afford to lose any matches until the end of the season if they want to win both the Champions League and Spanish league title this season.
“We must back up our words. We have to act and I think the team has acted very well. We cannot fail in any game if we want to win LaLiga and the Champions League,” Xavi said.
On the topic of Wednesday’s game against Napoli, which ended in a 1-1 draw following goals from both sides’ star strikers Robert Lewandowski and Victor Osimhen, Xavi said: “On a physical level we were very good.
“Perhaps we had a bit of a mental issue (against Napoli). We should have calmed the game down, but we let Napoli dominate us for those 10 minutes. It was never a physical issue.
“We hardly have time to rest and it’s time for the best players to play. We won’t make many changes from the Napoli game.”
Napoli and Barcelona will face each other again on Tuesday March 12 for the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16, which will kick off at 20.00 at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
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🎙️ Sigue la rueda de prensa de Xavi Hernández en la previa del Barça – Getafehttps://t.co/BqX9E4G4ls
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