Getty Dani Alves celebrates scoring for Barcelona.
Xavi Hernandez was in jubilant mood after Barcelona’s 4-2 win over Atletico Madrid in La Liga. The coach was captured celebrating with his players in the locker room at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona showed Xavi going around the room and congratulating all his players individually, even those who were not in action. Shouts of “we are in the Champions League” are heard in the background to which Xavi replies, “Come on, no one will stop us now.”
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The win does indeed move Barcelona back into the Champions League spots in La Liga for the first time since September. The Catalan giants have leapfrogged Atletico into fourth and now sit just two points behind Real Betis albeit with a game in hand.
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Xavi Gives His Verdict On Atletico Win
Xavi spoke about his team’s win after the game and highlighted just how important the three points are to his side. The coach also urged his players to keep working hard throughout the second half of the season, as reported by ESPN.
“It was more than a win. The fans, the staff, the players… we all needed that. It could be a turning point. It’s a huge win against the reigning champions,” he said. “We have to keep working hard, it’s been difficult, but we’re turning things around. We’re in the Champions League places now, but we have to keep going with this style of play.”
The win should boost confidence in what is a pivotal month. Barca play Espanyol, Valencia, and Athletic in La Liga and also have two Europa League play-off games against Napoli to negotiate.
Xavi vs Diego Simeone
The Barcelona boss also discussed his opposite number after the match. The coach said pre-game that Atletico’s style simply would not be accepted at the Camp Nou but played down talk of a spat between the two coaches after the game.
“He looks for something which is the polar opposite of what we want. Simeone understands football in another way. But that’s all it is, another way of seeing football, it’s not a fight or anything like that [between us],” he said. “He’s happy without the ball, I’m sweating if we don’t have it. But Atletico are a great rival, the reigning champions. He’s a great coach and I have an incredible amount of respect for him.”
A hectic game at the Camp Nou brought six goals, a sending off for Dani Alves and a red card for Xavi’s brother Oscar Hernandez. The Barcelona coach was also shown a yellow card on the touchline for taking his protests over a refereeing decision too far.
Barca were forced to hold on in the closing stages after going down to 10 men but managed to see out the game and pile more misery on Simeone’s defending champions.
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