- Xavi believes Barcelona has a real chance of winning the La Liga title.
- Xavi praises Girona’s bravery and playing style.
- Barcelona will face high-flying Girona this Sunday.
This Sunday, Barcelona will play high-flying Girona in La Liga, and manager Xavi Hernandez believes his team has a real chance of winning the championship this season despite Girona’s surprising run.
Girona has only lost once, and at this stage, they have the same amount of points as Real Madrid, the top team. Barcelona, the winners of the previous season, is now in third place, four points behind the top two.
When asked on Saturday if he thought the Catalan underdogs could win La Liga, Xavi answered with absolute confidence in an interview with media.
“I have already said that against the odds and surprisingly, they can do it,” he said. “I like them because they’re brave, they’re not afraid.”
Many have been taken aback by Girona’s rise to the top of the league, but Xavi is not one of them; he was full of admiration for Barcelona’s impending rivals.
“It’s a great game. Girona, surprisingly for many people, are leaders, or co-leaders. But for us it’s no surprise.”
“They’re a dynamic team, with a great coach, a system similar to ours, they want to have the ball, they want to be the protagonists – they put pressure on you. I congratulate the coach and the team.”
Girona finished in tenth place the previous season, however the team only drew 0-0 at Camp Nou versus Barcelona and lost 1-0 at home. It is more difficult to predict Girona’s strategy for this forthcoming game, nevertheless, because of the new obstacle this squad poses.
“Girona last season at our home put pressure on us, and in Montilivi, they closed down. We’ll see tomorrow,” Xavi said.
“We have prepared the game with several scenarios. They have more variants and individualities. They’ve improved a lot from last year.”
With a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid last weekend, Barcelona successfully completed a difficult test. Before that, a 2-1 victory over Porto guaranteed them a berth in the Champions League knockout stages, which prepared them well for Sunday’s big game.
“We’ve done very well, in terms of morale and confidence. We had two games that were two finals,” Xavi said. “Tomorrow they are a direct rival with a four-point advantage. Tomorrow we have to prove ourselves again.”
Joao Felix, a player on loan from Real Madrid, scored Barca’s goal against Atletico, and Xavi will be hoping for a better result on Sunday.
Two players from Barcelona are on loan at Girona; Eric Garcia joined on loan late but is eligible to play against Barcelona, while Pablo Torre is barred by a clause from playing against his parent club.
“I would put the clause on everybody. I think it’s illogical for your own player to play against you,” Xavi said.
“He will be extra motivated, as happened with Joao Felix.”
