Barça is at stake at Old Trafford but the Negreira case has crossed borders and accompanies him wherever he goes. Asked by the Blaugrana coach for a few words on the matter of Karl Heinz Rummenige Xavi wanted to make one thing clear. He never noticed anything strange. "I have never felt that they have helped me win titles in Europe or in Spain, you can be sure." With the memory of the controversial arbitrations suffered by Barcelona this season in Munich, Milan and last week against United, the Barcelona coach did not want to elaborate further on the subject. He prefers to focus on soccer.
In this sense, he combined four concepts to face the Old Trafford match. Examination, opportunity, requirement and personality. The coach is going to ask his footballers to raise their level of involvement even more to have qualifying options. “It's a very difficult game against one of the best in Europe. They are the best United in recent years, at the Camp Nou they showed a lot of passion, mentality and rhythm. We have to match this rhythm and this mentality. We have to show a lot of personality and a lot of intensity. We have to have the mentality to win a big game in Europe. It is a perfect scenario to show that we can compete in a big field”.
According to Xavi, Barça is not in a position to show off its chest despite being the leader in the League. “In Europe we cannot say that we have returned until we prove it. Old Trafford is an excellent opportunity to do so. We haven't been up to par in the Champions League and we'll see if we are in the Europa League. We have to compete and not use casualties as an excuse”.
The Blaugrana coach considers that his team has to find alternatives to alleviate the absences. "We lack Pedri's order, Gavi's passion, which is extremely important and even more so in a match like this, and we lack the overflow on the wing that Dembélé gives us, but we have to find that order, that passion and that overflow".
The Terrassa coach, who played his first game as a Barcelona player in Europe at Old Trafford, has already decided how he will go out to play this Thursday, but he did not reveal if he would do it with more midfielders or with more forwards. “The idea does not change one way or the other. We have to occupy the spaces and attack these spaces. From here we have to compete. It varies very little, although the forwards play more one-on-one and the midfielders placed on the wing are neater and lose fewer balls”.
The option of placing Sergi Roberto in advance gains body. “For me it is a guarantee, he can do well anywhere, on the wing, in the middle, inside, pivot. Wherever I play, I'm sure it will be important."
In terms of the future, Xavi, as he has always said, does not rule out a hypothetical return of Leo Messi. “Barça is his home. The best player in history would always fit in with us."
Meanwhile, Jules Koundé asked the team for a twist to face the match. “I think we have to go one step further than last week. We have to increase the intensity and press better to recover balls up. If we squeeze them well we can get things. We really want to and we have everything in the team to win”. In the Frenchman's opinion, as important as attacking well will be knowing how to contain the rival. “Defending with success has been key for us, he has given us many points, and we have a great challenge against a very good attack. We're going to have to do very well."
Koundé is convinced that Barcelona will show a level according to what is required of them. “Everyone on the team has to do their job. I am sure that we are going to see the best Barça”.
The defense did not hide the fact that Europe is the unfinished business of the Blaugrana team. “There is more pressure because it is a more important game, but it is a pressure that we like, we all like to play these games. It is a positive pressure, we want to give more. It's a step we still have to take."
Within this learning process, Koundé admitted that the team still lacks flight hours depending on the situation. "Sometimes we lose control of the games and they become a back and forth, and that is not what we want."
