Xavi talks Fati, ter Stegen, Frenkie, Dembele after Barcelona beat Real Betis

Barcelona entered their first final of the Xavi Hernandez era after defeating Real Betis on penalty shootout in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup.

The Catalans took the lead in the first half through Robert Lewandowski but Nabil Fekir equalised to force the game into extra time. Ansu Fati then scored a terrific goal to put Barça ahead only to see Loren Moron level things up, with the tie going into penalties.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who had already made several important saves during the match, came up clutch in the shootouts as Barcelona prevailed 4-2 to book a place against arch-rivals Real Madrid in Sunday’s final.

Xavi spoke to the media after the game expressing his delight at making the finals as he looked forward to winning his first-ever title as Barcelona manager. Here are the snippets from his interaction with the press after a hard-earned victory in Riyadh.

On the match: “Real Betis played very well, but we could have decided the match earlier. I’m happy to have reached the final. We lost the ball too much. We still have to kill off matches. We didn’t defend as well as we did vs Atleti.”

On the final: “I’m excited for the final. I want to compete against the best, win against the best. Real Madrid is one of the best, and the final will be great.”

On the performance: “I was very satisfied at half-time. After that, Betis dominated and we suffered. We should have killed it off in the first half.”

“We have to be self-critical. The second half was poor, and it’s not the way forward. We saw two faces from the team. Fantastic first half, and then we were not at the required level.”

“We had two goals. The first one was to reach the final, which we did. The second one was to play well and kill the game early, which we didn’t do.”

On who would have been the fifth penalty taker: “The fifth penalty taker would have been Marcos Alonso.”

On what issues the team is facing: “We have to know how to kill off matches. That’s what we’re missing in the matches after the World Cup. We were not aggressive without the ball in the first half.”

On Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s heroics: “We have a great goalkeeper. Ter Stegen is a difference-maker.”

On Ansu Fati: “I should have subbed Ansu on sooner. It was my mistake. He’s in good shape and I’m glad for him. Ansu Fati has improved a lot in defence. Since coming back from the World Cup, he’s in much better shape.

“I’m happy for Ansu Fati because he suffered a lot. He’s back at this level because of his hard work.”

On taking off Frenkie de Jong and Ousmane Dembele: “Frenkie and Dembélé were taken off because they have a little discomfort. I don’t think they’re injured, and they should be available on Sunday.”

On whether Barça lost control due to substitutions: “I don’t think that we lost control of the match because of the substitutions. Betis applied more pressure than us, and they has us in our side of the pitch. They controlled us.”

On Manuel Pellegrini’s comments about removing extra time: “I understand. Maybe we have to think about that. In the middle of the season like this, 120 minutes… we also had several players with discomfort and cramps.”

Source: BarçaTV+