Xavi Hernández regretted that the match referee annulled the 2-3 score, already in added time, considering that Ferran Torres was offside and that he was interfering with Joao Félix's goal: “The fourth referee first tells me what's up the Ferran ball. It is clear that he does not touch it. The feeling is that just as he annuls it, he can give it and today we got tails again, who is Ferran interfering with? If the ball goes the same as where it goes. “It doesn’t bother anyone,” he argued.
The Blaugrana coach was disappointed with the result, but not with the team's play: “We totally dominated the game. We have created chances and we deserved more. Good game by the team in terms of the game, not the result. We have created enough chances to leave here with a victory.” Of course, he was very critical of the two goals conceded: “We can't go out on the field like that,” he stated.
Barça conceded a goal in the first seconds of the game: “It's our mistake in construction. The motto was to play face to face and you concede that goal the first time. “It has affected us,” he acknowledged. “With 2-0 we had to fight back,” he said, showing satisfaction with the team's reaction: “The team felt good, was calm, patient... Today we played good football, we deserved the victory and we took a point that for us is insufficient”
Xavi also praised Granada's big-time scorer, Bryan Zaragoza: “We had already analyzed Bryan. We knew that he is a bullet, that he relies a lot on transitions. He is a footballer who is not easy to stop.” And he also had words for the young Lamine Yamal on the day of his first goal with FC Barcelona: “They gave me confidence when I was 17-18 years old. When we see a footballer who earns it in training and in games, that he can help us, we give him the opportunity, and he is helping us a lot and is making a difference.”
Finally, he sent a message of calm to Koundé, who retired injured: “It seems that it is nothing serious, that he is fine.” He also confirmed that Lamine Yamal asked her for the change “because of some inconvenience” that she did not want to confirm. The young footballer acknowledged leaving with “a bittersweet taste for the tie” despite his first goal, the one that confirmed him as the youngest scorer in the history of the club and LaLiga: “I was thinking about coming back more than about the goal and the record,” he confessed.
Sergio Roberto also spoke, who regretted “not having done his homework before,” even though he assured that they sought victory until the last minute: “The team has fought until the end. A shame we didn't get the 3 points. We have to try not to score so many goals against us.” “We only gave the victory for good,” said the Blaugrana captain who also spoke about the man of the match, Bryan Zaragoza, who was on the verge of leaving with a hat-trick: “The first goal was very fast and we found ourselves with a 2-0. We knew we had to be careful with losses because Bryan is very fast, and that's how it has been.”
Regarding the controversial play already in added time, in which the referee annulled the goal that would have led to FC Barcelona's comeback, Sergi Roberto preferred to focus on what his team could have done: “I can't tell you live if it was. or not, then they showed me an image and I don't know if Ferran participates much in the play, that's what the VAR is for. “We should have done our homework earlier.”
