“We had to take risks, in the end we ended up with four or five strikers. We were brave and it worked out very well for us”. Xavi Hernandezthe Barça coach, was happy because the changes in the second half (he entered Ansu by Ferran Torres and Raphinha by Balde) had an immediate impact on team performance.
“We knew how to make a difference, I’m very happy with the victory. I took out Balde, who was a false winger, and put in four strikers. Ansu makes a difference, Lewandowski, Ousmane…”, said the Barça coach, who modified the tactical structure of the team in Anoeta.
A Barça without the 4 captains
A Barça without the four captains. Busquets was suspended. Piqué, Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba were on the bench. The center back was the only one who didn’t even appear in the second half. “It doesn’t mean anything, I choose those who perform better, I don’t look at names or ages, I don’t look at anything, I look at performance and that the team benefits”, said Xavi, “annoyed” because Jules Koundé has not been allowed to register . But I don’t bother Mateu Alemany or Jordi Cruyff because “they are doing a great job”.
“The captains? I choose those who perform best, I don’t look at names or ages, I don’t look at anything, I look at performance and that the team benefits”
Xavi, Barça coach
He came out with three centre-backs (Araujo, Christensen and Eric García) to have control of the match, but failed to do so in the first half. “We lacked patience, more pause”, recognized Xavi. “We went out with three because they play in a diamond and that way we had a defender left over. We wanted to dominate the game and we went out with two pivots so that it would be difficult for Silva”, said the Barça coach. “The 3 central defenders? With Koeman we used them and it went quite well. It was to have the ball and you had to be daring”, added the coach.
The Ansu-Lewandowski connection
“I told the players that we had to be brave. We understood it better in the second half and not in the first. Frenkie is not as positional but we are doing well”, underlined the Barça coach, acknowledging that “we still lack the understanding of the game, despite the loss of the tying goal”.
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In addition, with the appearance of Ansu, who played behind Lewandowski, everything changed. The landscape of the party was substantially modified. “We had our options, we missed that second goal. That save from Ter Stegen to Silva, the one he made to Merino before…”, he lamented Imanol Sheriff, the coach of Real Sociedad, on the night that Lewandowski left two goals to debut in the League.
“Even though he’s 34 years old, he looks like he’s 20. The goals he scores are crazy and, above all, how he works for the team, he helps us a lot,” said Pedri about the Polish striker.