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Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez delivered a brutal verdict on bitter rivals Real Madrid after seeing his team cruise to a dominant 4-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga on Sunday, March 20.
The coach spoke to the press after the game and made it clear that he was not at all impressed by Los Blancos, as reported by ESPN. He said simply, “We were expecting a harder match.”
Real Madrid had won the last five Clasico matches between the two sides but were swept away by an impressive visiting team. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice, while Ferran Torres and Ronald Araujo were also on target for the visitors.
The win extends Barcelona’s current unbeaten run to 12 matches and sees the Catalans close the gap on Sevilla in second place in La Liga to three points. Barca also have a game in hand and welcome Julen Lopetegui’s side to the Camp Nou next on Sunday, April 3.
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Xavi Talks Barcelona’s Win
Xavi also went on to speak about Barcelona’s performance in more depth and made it clear just how happy he was to see his team run out such convincing winners against the league leaders, as reported by Cope.
“They were favourites, they had been competing very well, we’ve known how to play them, we’ve had possession, we’ve played a spectacular game. I’m very happy, it’s a day to enjoy. I’m the coach of Barça and a culé and these are experiences to enjoy,” he said. “We already competed very well in the Super Cup and today it has been shown that we can compete against a Madrid team on a roll. I am very proud of the team but it is three points. This strengthens the project.”
Real Madrid will still be expected to go on and win La Liga. Carlo Ancelotti’s side are nine points clear with just nine games left, but there is no doubt that Barca have closed the gap on Los Blancos.
Busquets: Barcelona Should Have Scored More
Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets also spoke out after the win and said he felt his team could have won by more. Ferran, Aubameyang and Dembele all had other chances to score but Barca had to settle for four.
“We wanted to come out and dominate the game, that’s what we’ve been doing recently. Today everything worked out, we could have scored many more goals,” he said. “We knew that if we did things well this could happen, in the last game they did us a lot of damage on the counterattack and today we controlled it well, there could have been many more goals.”
The win seals an excellent week for Barcelona and follows on from their win over Galastasaray in midweek that has sent the Catalan giants into the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Barcelona will now get some time off, due to the international break, before returning to action against Sevilla in a match which offers Xavi’s side the chance to move into second place in the table.
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