A Xavi the demons took him to Montjuïc. First, on the field where he kicked an advertising protection expressing his fury at the referee’s performance. And then, in the press room where the coach denounced that the Romanian referee Kosvacs had “broken the tie with the unnecessary expulsion” of Araujo.
This message monopolized Xavi’s speech at the European farewell, but it was not shared by key players in his team, such as Ter Stegen, one of the captains, or Ilkay Gundogan, who left the City champion of everything to come to Barcelona where he can be left empty-handed. “Everything was in our hands and we gave it away in the simple way,” confessed the German in a chat with CBS Sports.
“I’m disappointed, very disappointed. We were in a good position, not only after the first leg, but also after our first goal,” lamented Gündogan.
The speech of ‘Gundo’, one of the most self-critical players who have passed through the Blaugrana dressing room in recent years, abandoned any type of excuse. “I think that if he whistles a foul, he has to send it off and that has changed everything. Araujo can be whistled for a foul,” acknowledged Ter Stegen, contradicting his coach’s version.
The list of failures
Gündogan, who already reported after the defeat in the classic with Madrid last October that he saw things he didn’t like in the dressing room, went a little further. “In these kind of crucial moments you have to make sure you get to the ball. You have to be clear. If not, give our goalkeeper a chance. So many minutes with 10 kills you,” he commented the former City player explaining that he was not looking at the referee’s action but at the decision taken by the Uruguayan central.
“Everything was in our hands, but we let it escape the easiest way”
“I prefer, of course, to score a goal there or give the striker a hand to hand,” explained Gündogan about the red card to Araujo (m. 29), which conditioned, and in a terrible way for Barça, the duel with Paris SG. “Everything was in our hands, but they let it slip away in the easiest way,” lamented the German midfielder afterwards.
He was tormented by the chain of failures that the team committed in the first three goals of the Parisian team. In the 1-1, signed by Dembele’sCancelo ignored, and recklessly, his back. In the 1-2, the work of Vitinha, and at the exit of a corner where playing with one less footballer should not be so noticeable, Barça forgot to protect the front of their area.
“Again, a mistake, yes. I think we have to go out and not let him shoot because he was very free,” recalled Gündogan, emphasizing that it is an intolerable mistake. “To be honest, I want to say that it’s also nothing that we haven’t trained,” acknowledged the German. Xavi also revealed in the Montjuïc press room after the 1-4 that this type of defensive action was being worked on.
“The man closest to the player and the ball has to go out. Vitinha was the fourth man. You know that. Someone has to go out,” said the former City captain over and over again. Well, nobody came out. A goal that “wasn’t necessary” to score, according to Gündogan. Something similar happened in Cancelo’s imprudent penalty on Dembélé, prelude to Mbappé’s 1-3.
2024-04-17 10:29:01
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