Xavi has not forgotten the critics who, he says, called Barcelona the “joke” of the Champions League, speaking after qualifying for the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time since 2020.
Fermin Lopez, Joao Cancelo and Robert Lewandowski were all on target at the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday, with Barcelona beat Napoli 3-1 sealing her place in his quarterfinals Champions League.
This success represents significant progress at European level for Barca, who have failed to qualify from the group stage in each of the last two seasons and lost to Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 in 2020/21.
“I said we would take a step forward with my decision to leave in the summer,” said the Xavi, who earlier this year announced that he would step down at the end of the season. “People didn’t believe me. [είπαν] that I would miss the locker room. We received unfair criticism. There was too much pressure on the players: ultimatums, life or death games. I even read that we were the… clown of the Champions League. And now what;”
????♂️ Xavi had it saved: “What do we do now with the Champions League jester?”#UCL pic.twitter.com/NrzFoHiDgu
— MARCA (@marca) March 13, 2024
His announcement Xavi it came after Barca’s poor run in La Liga and elimination from the Spanish Supercopa and Copa del Rey in January. But the Blaugrana still have a chance to go all the way to the Champions League and Xavi claims his side are in better form than when they won their first LaLiga title since 2019 last season.
“We’re playing better than last year,” he added after Barca extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine games. “We understand some things better. Regardless of the results, what this team is doing deserves a lot of credit. It is a moment to be proud and appreciate what we have done. “I’m really happy. It was a complete performance tonight against the Italian champions, one of the best performances of the season. The team gave everything and we dominated large parts of the game. We have shown that we are ready to compete again in Europe and we are again among the eight best teams on the continent. I’m really proud of the players, the youngsters, the veterans, everybody.”
Barca will now await Friday’s draw to see who they will meet in the last eight, with Real Madrid, Manchester City, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich already through and the winner of the Inter Milan-Atletico Madrid tie pending and Borussia Dortmund – PSV. “Every possible opponent is difficult”Xavi said. “Like I said, it’s a day to enjoy being a Barca fan. We must remember where we come from. After two years of being relegated to the Europa League, we are now back in the quarter-finals of the Champions League»
Xavi: “I told the players to stay calm, nobody was going to die today. The press were saying we were the buffoons in the Champions League, unfair criticism from journalists. Was that necessary? Are we still the buffoons?” pic.twitter.com/OeYoNVKGK6
— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) March 12, 2024