Xavi reflects on the 4-0 loss to Real Madrid: “We were run over in the second half”

After a terrific run in which they won three El Clasico encounters in a row, Barcelona were given a reality check as Real Madrid hammered them 4-0 at Spotify Camp Nou in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals.

Coming into the game with a one-goal advantage, Barça started the game well and had a few openings which they could not capitalise on. And Real Madrid made sure to punish their hosts for it as Vinicius Jr opened the scoring close to half-time before a Karim Benzema double early in the second half put the tie to bed.

The Real Madrid striker went on to complete his hattrick later on to heap more misery on the Blaugrana, whose hopes of a league and cup double ended last night.

Manager Xavi Hernandez spoke to the media after the match and lamented over the fact that Barcelona could not take their chances, saying:

“I think that in the first half, we could have finished with a good result. We didn’t take advantage of our chances. When you do that against Madrid, it will penalize you. Real Madrid are the favorites in whichever competition they are playing.”

“This is a heavy defeat that hurts us a lot. Now we have to be united,” he admitted. “I’ll have trouble sleeping tonight. I’m very hurt.”

Xavi went on to add that his team competed well in the first half, but made some poor mistakes after the break, as he said: “The second half punished us a lot. We competed better than the results suggests. We made very serious errors that showed we did not compete. It’s a shame. We have to be self-critical. The second half was very bad.”

Xavi insisted that he did not want to use injuries to key players like Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Andreas Christensen and Ousmane Dembele as a crutch, saying: “If I talk about injuries, it would seem like an excuse. We have to react quickly and win La Liga.”

“I said that Madrid were favorites,” he added. “We have to congratulate Madrid. They compete very well in Cup competitions. It’s a shame, but we played against the Champions League winners. I already told you how difficult it was to beat this team.”

“This is Madrid. In the first half, they didn’t dominate the match, and we created much more but they scored the first goal. We know it. It’s how they won the Champions League last year.”

When asked if this was the worst match he had overseen during his time at Barcelona, Xavi replied: “Let’s remember where we came from. When I arrived, we did not compete for anything. A year later, we could win La Liga and we have won the Super Cup. To me, that is good progress.”

On being asked whether the team suffered from a mentality problem on the night, Xavi said: “I don’t think we had a mental issue today. We are not mature enough. We have so many young players and they have to learn how to compete better.”

The Barcelona manager went on to call the team to focus on La Liga, with 11 games left to be played this season. “We have 11 finals left in the league,” he said.

Vinicius Jr caused Barcelona plenty of problems on the night, but at the same time, he was also involved in a lot of unnecessary skirmishes with the Catalan stars. When asked about the Brazilian forward, Xavi said:

“Vinicius is a great player who makes a difference. Apart from that, I can’t say anything else. I don’t want controversy.”

On the contrasting performances of Robert Lewandowski, who failed to do much of note, and Karim Benzema, who scored a hattrick, Xavi said: “We are not going to kill anyone after this. Lewandowski is the top scorer in the league. He’s calm.”

Further reiterating how the team failed to capitalise on their chance in the first half, Xavi said: “Our moment was in the first half. If we took advantage of the first half the match would have been different. We were run over in the second half.”

“I don’t think that the players stopped trying, but we got disorganized. It’s not an excuse, but I really would have liked to count on the injured players,” he added.

Signing off, the manager said: “We have to focus on La Liga now, which is a more important competition than the Copa del Rey.”

Source: BarçaTV+