Barça have shown that they are one of the great clubs in Europe. With their own style of play, Barça won the league stopped by the pandemic with nine points difference with Atlético de Madrid. A clear architect of this evolution is Lluís Cortés (Lleida, 1985). The coach talks about how they experienced the semi-finals against Wolfsburg, how the team is emotionally and how they see the start of the Iberdrola League.
How do you rate Barça’s performance in this Champions League?
The overall reading is that it has been a shame. We have shown that the team was ready to compete in this competition. In the match against Wolfsburg we had no luck or aim to get into the final. I think we all have the same feeling of sadness.
You faced Wolfsburg …
We had them practically against the ropes and we missed the goal. We all felt a little sad and angry at the same time because it was the year, we played the game we wanted … But the goal was missing. We lost the game, true, but we won something very important, which is often not valued, which is the respect of the people. People already consider Barça one of the best teams in Europe. I think we have won this for this year, but we must also be aware that in the Champions League it is a very difficult competition, that you have to be relatively lucky in the draw.
What is missing from this Barça to score at the right time?
In the Champions League it is clear that you cannot forgive. Maybe the problem is that in the League you end up having 12 or 15 chances, and the day you forgive you also score two goals. And when you don’t forgive, you make six. In the Champions League we must learn to give more value to these occasions. We may not know what happened and we are giving it a go with the coaching staff, but it is clear that we need to improve.
How did the players fit in the defeat?
The first reaction is to be sunk for having it so close and not having finished it. At the moment it hurts because you think you have had it very close and the result is not considered fair, but it is a defeat that you suffer much better. The locker room was collapsing, but the message was that we would not change any Barça player for Wolfsburg. We will go with this team to the end. We had a very powerful rival against the ropes.
After the semifinal you had complaints from the referees. Do you think they haven’t lived up to it?
Getting to assess referees ’decisions is difficult because they often meet subjective criteria of the rules. Then there are actions that are obvious and that people have already drawn their conclusions from these days. In a competition like the Champions League and in stadiums where the VAR is being applied every week and they are ready, the cost to UEFA of installing this system was relatively low. Not to do it in a single match format and in which you know that every action and every detail can have a lot of value … I think UEFA was wrong.
Is Barça already one of the greats in Europe?
We have earned the respect and admiration of many people and players from other teams who have said they like the way we play. They see that the players are having a good time, the team is enjoying, it has possession, the pace of circulation is very high.
There has been a lot of controversy with the start of the League. When do you prefer it?
For me, as before better. We before the Champions League did six very hard pre-season weeks, with many hours of training and double sessions. Doing a month of preseason will now take us a long time, and after falling to the Champions League in this way, hopefully we will compete this Saturday. We want it as soon as possible. If it can’t be for day 4, putting on the Queen’s Cup last season before the League starts would also be a solution for us. So we would start the new season with the previous season over.
How is it feasible to play before the Cup knowing that many teams have not had the preseason that you have had?
This will have to be decided by the Federation, but it is true that the other teams involved, both Sevilla and Atlético or Logroño, have been training for weeks. Perhaps Logroño is the one that has the biggest conditioning for the positives that communicated, but from now until October 4 or when the League has to be played they would have time. I think it would be a good solution to play the Cup before so we can compete as soon as possible and start the next season with the previous one finished and clean.
Do you see the health protocol that proposes isolation during the League as viable?
We did it for six weeks prior to the Champions and we made a very big effort players and staff. In the end our families are waiting for us in our house and we have given up a lot of things and it has become very hard. We’ve all had to make that effort for six weeks, and doing it all year round I find it tricky. Also, for people who have another job and don’t engage in just that I don’t know if it will be viable.
Is the fact that it took so long to have a return date a clear symptom that women’s football is not so professional?
Yes, it is true that women’s football has grown a lot in recent years but it remains first to consolidate these advances that have been made and finish the final step of making a professional league in which players have decent conditions and in which really, on the part of the federal and League levels and all, the players can be asked considering that they are professionals. Right now, the League, with the proposed calendar of 34 games with games on weekdays, if the players are not professionals is very unviable, because it involves having players travel on weekdays and if you do not live from that you can not do -ho. The agreement was a first step, but it must be consolidated and implemented and make a final step to professionalize the competition so that the players and staff they could be dedicated 100% to women’s football. This is a wheel that is fueled and that makes the League better and better.
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