Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez addressed ‘unnecessary’ and ‘unfair’ red card

Xavi Hernandez believes his sending off in Sunday night's La Liga game against Atletico Madrid was "unfair and unnecessary". The Barcelona coach was seen on the 'DAZN' live broadcast after taking the three points, which will close the gap on Real Madrid to eight with nine games to go. He praised Ilkay Gundogan's great performance and explained the last-minute inclusion of Fermin Lopez in his starting eleven, among other things.

"The important thing is the team. The fourth official tells me that I'm being sent off for the gestures. I said absolutely nothing. I try to have respect. I gesture because I am passionate and I want my team to win. For me, the sending off was unnecessary and unfair, but you have to accept it," he said of the red card he saw during the first half. It was shortly after he was shown the yellow card for a first set of protests amidst grumbling.

"We are Barca: nobody relaxes here. I'm going to push them harder than ever. Now that I'm leaving, even more so. We are going to try to improve and compete for the two most important titles. We have to push and demand more from the players. An almost perfect match for what we want. It was probably the most complete match. It was a match similar to the one against Napoli. We understood it very well; Robert, very active, Fermin, Joao... We attacked the spaces well. It's an ideal match for our methodology and philosophy of play", he said in more general terms.

Regarding Gundogan's performance, he said: "We chose Fermin because he attacks the spaces very well. 'Gundo', at the back, gives us a lot because he understands positional play. It was a perfect display of positional play and attacking space". On Koke, whom he greeted before his interview, he said: "I have a very good relationship. I've wished him luck and I hope we can see each other in the near future. I'm very happy".

 

March 18, 2024