Barcelona receives this Sunday the Real Madrid with the intention of leaving the League sentenced. A victory would remove them from the lead to twelve points, but a defeat would allow the white team to stay alive and move to six points with twelve games still to go. Xavi Hernandez He led the last training session before the match and answered the journalists’ questions. «We are preparing the game in a way. We visualize a match where we try to have more dominance than the last one. We will try to be protagonists with the ball, much more than in the semi-finals at the Bernabéu. We play against a Madrid that I see as strong. They have improved a lot physically. It will be contested and they will push us up. It is unpredictable. We hope that the field is a pressure cooker. With respect, but encourage us”, began the technician.
The man from Egar valued the absence of Pedri, who suffered from his inconvenience and was ruled out for tomorrow’s game. «Pedri arrived very just. There was a risk. Yesterday it suffered and it is not 100 percent. You better rest and recover well. The sensations were not good and we told him that no need to force nothing. It is not a final, important and decisive if we win, but it is not a great final. What we don’t want is to lose Pedri for two more months,” said the coach. who added: «It is our goal that his absence is not noticed. We have tried to counteract it this week so that what happened at the Bernabéu does not happen again. We are capable of being dominant against Madrid even without Pedri.
The coach wanted to keep his feet on the ground. «I think the party is 50 percent. It may be a little more for us because we play at home.” And he ruled out that it could be definitive: «In case of winning it would be a hit the table. It would not be final but it would be strong. Whatever happens will not be final. There will be points and difficult matches. Nothing will be decided.” Xavi recalled that it is his first classic at the Camp Nou: «I am very motivated. I am very culé and the Clásicos put me on, they extra-motivate me. The setting is very good. we have a lot to gain. We play at home and we have trained very well. I have very good feelings.”
Style and results
He was asked about the words of Cholo Simeone, who criticized some teams for their style and now boast of winning by the minimum: “One thing is the result and another the style. We will never close behind. We are proactive and try to push high. Another thing is that they dominate us in their own field. We always put pressure on the goalkeeper. The idea is not touched. Barcelona won 1-0 with a goal from Koeman and nobody said anything like that. Our idea is very clear. I don’t have to convince anyone.” And he joked when asked if he would sign to win 1-0 on Sunday: “What about 1-0? Given the choice, I prefer a 4-0 or a 5-4, but it’s hard to score goals. Whoever hasn’t played football and hasn’t participated in elite sport… Winning 1-0 is a fantastic result. It is a wonder”.
Xavi valued the clashes between Araujo and Vinicius, that tomorrow will live a new chapter: «Ronald is very strong, fast, he intuits well. He is a physical wonder. He is responsible, leader, winner in aggressive duels. He is a world class defender. Of the best in the world. Having it is an advantage. Normally he has come out the winner, but Vinicius marks many differences for you. It is a value of Madrid extraordinary. Not only Ronald, it’s the surveillance and collectively we have been very good against Madrid.
The technician was also asked about the words of John Laporta, who assured that everything that is coming up in the Negreira case is an orchestrated campaign against Barcelona: : «Everything the president says goes to Mass. He is the project leader. I focus on soccer. Tomorrow we have a transcendent classic in the league, which is our goal. And he assured that they try to isolate themselves from outside noise: «We have not talked about the issue of the referees or the Negreira case. We focus on competing and being at the highest level. We try to be natural with it. We extract ourselves from everything that happens. I haven’t had to do anything different.” And he assured that “they will not be able to stabilize uswe are more stable than ever ».
