Busquets: "It has been difficult for us to maintain our style, but we have competed well"

Barça beat Real Madrid and advanced in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey (0-1), but the victory at the Santiago Bernabeu was not in the usual style of the blaugrana, controlling possession and attacking, but instead dedicated much of the game to defend tooth and nail the winning goal, an own goal by Éder Militão.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
02 March 2023 Thursday 15:26
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Busquets: "It has been difficult for us to maintain our style, but we have competed well"

Barça beat Real Madrid and advanced in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey (0-1), but the victory at the Santiago Bernabeu was not in the usual style of the blaugrana, controlling possession and attacking, but instead dedicated much of the game to defend tooth and nail the winning goal, an own goal by Éder Militão.

"There is still a lot of tie left. It has been difficult for us to maintain our style, but we have competed well. We have had the clearest chances. We have closed a lot of spaces on the inside and we have made help from the outside. They have made many crosses but without much danger", he analyzed the meeting Sergio Busquets.

The Barcelona captain made it "clear" that they would have "liked to have more possession, more control", but he also gave "credit" to the "good pressure" exerted by the whites. "We have made a great effort, the team has been very supportive. They have had control but they have not had clear chances," added the man from Badia, although remarking that the victory is only "a minimal advantage for the second leg".

Busquets did not ring bells on the fly and also recalled that "we should not be alarmist either", in reference to the two previous consecutive defeats against Manchester United, which led to their elimination from the Europa League, and at Almería, where the blaugrana missed the opportunity to increase the income with the whites to ten points in the League.

"We were disappointed but this is long. We have a great physical level. The team is going to grow. Despite the fact that we have won we have to keep working," concluded a Busquets who this Thursday became the player with the most classics played. "It's a game that we all like and that it continues," he said of his record.

One of the Blaugrana players who explains the victory is defender Ronald Araújo, who this time acting as a winger once again stopped Vinícius, the most unbalancing striker for the Whites. "We were very good in defense, it was what the game required. Defending well is something that we corrected from last season. We took an important victory," said the Uruguayan.

"We needed a reaction after two defeats. The team is united and was in good spirits despite coming off two defeats," the defender concluded.

For his part, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois stressed that they "dominated the game" and conceded a "bad luck" goal. "They were winning when they didn't deserve it. It was difficult for us to find chances and shoot on goal," said Courtois, who also appreciated Barça's virtues: "They have conceded few goals in the league, the last pass didn't work out for us. They have defended well and It's your credit."

"When you don't beat Barça it's always bad. But it won't affect us in the second leg or in other games. We'll see how we get after these three games before the second leg," the Belgian finished his analysis.

Consult all the results of the Copa del Rey.