“It’s a final. Another one. It’s a very important litmus test. Valencia is an intense team, very rocky. These are three fundamental points for us”. Xavi Hernandezor doubt about what awaits him this Sunday (4:15 p.m.) in Mestalla, as Barcelona needs a victory to continue installed in the Champions zone. It is also measured the team of Bordalás, whom he did not stop praising despite the fact that “the game model he defends is different from ours”.
???? Xavi: “We have to set the pace and the traffic is high, Valencia is a very intense team. A tough match awaits us in a difficult field” #ValenciaBarça pic.twitter.com/UypHW7Z5fZ
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) February 19, 2022
Xavi also trusts that Araujo will recover in time to play that Mestalla final. “We are optimistic, he wants to be there, he is a great professional,” said the Barça coach about the Uruguayan defender, a pillar in the structure of Barcelona. And much more so now due to the injuries of Lenglet and Umtititogether with the sanction of Piquewho was sent off in the derby with Espanyol.
Xavi also claimed that Barça and Sergio Robert reach an agreement to guarantee the continuity of this contract, which ends on June 30, at the Camp Nou. “I’ve already said it many times, he’s a player who should continue at the club. I would count on him, but it’s an issue between him and the club. But I have no doubt that he can be important for Barça’s future as well”, the azulgrana coach has insisted.
???? Xavi: “We have improved a lot in the game, it is being positive. I think we are on the right track” pic.twitter.com/KUUYz1455t
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) February 19, 2022
That is the future in the medium term. Now, the immediate future is to beat Valencia so as not to see fourth place in danger, the first basic objective that Xavi has set for himself. And he faces Valencia this Sunday Bordalás, one of the teams that disrupts the game the most, in what is anticipated as an inevitable clash of styles. “I wasn’t referring to Valencia. I wasn’t pointing the finger at anyone. I was speaking in general. Playing to waste time is cheating. Bordalás seems like a fantastic coach to me, I like how he convinces his players,” said the Barça coach.
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Nor does Xavi doubt that Ferran Torres will end up “making a difference” because he is, as he himself has described, “a great player”. He was the most dangerous striker against Napoli (nine shots and only one on goal, the penalty goal), tortured as the former Valencia player was by a series of mistakes against the Italian goal. “I have absolute confidence, blind confidence. You have to believe. He has made a difference at Valencia being very young, at City and in the national team. I have no doubt that he will score goals for Barça”.