Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez commented on the level of his team’s performance against rivals Villarreal, and stressed that his team might not deserve the victory over his opponent, who admitted that he made the Blaugrana suffer.
Xavi said after the match, which ended with Barcelona’s 2-1 victory over Villarreal: “We talked about solutions to attack from the back, but things did not go well, although we scored the second goal from behind.”
Xavi highlighted that Villarreal pressed well and made his players suffer in a meeting “rich at the tactical level against a big team that plays in the Champions League,” noting that the match “had a lot of parity.”
As for his discussion with the technical staff of Villarreal in the tunnel leading to the changing rooms after the meeting, Xavi stated that the tension between the technical staff is “normal and that in the end the handshake was shaken and it was over.”
On whether luck played a role in Barcelona’s victory, Xavi indicated that the second goal was planned, and said, “Today we played against a great opponent. He pressed us, but in the first half we had chances to score and we missed them, so they got lucky too.”
Xavi concluded his speech by saying: “Today we did not deserve to win, but we won. Sometimes things go like this.”