Xavi on his favourite Barcelona 2022/23 moment: “Kessie’s goal won us La Liga”

Real Sociedad always looked the better side at Spotify Camp Nou on Saturday night. The Basque side were on a mission to secure a Champions League berth for next season, and it was clear that they fought harder for the win than Barcelona.

After going 2-0 down on the night to a well-orchestrated La Real setup, Robert Lewandowski’s late goal gave the Catalans some consolation. Xavi Hernandez spoke to the press after his team’s defeat but the focus of the interview was primarily centred around the Catalans lifting the league trophy in front of their fans. Here are the snippets from the his interaction. 

The Barcelona manager began his press conference with a heart-warming account of how the occasion brought back memories from his player days.

“It is the spitting image of happiness. It’s a great experience. Many memories of a player have come back to me. It’s a league title for stability and calm. Now there’s tremendous harmony. It’s what I asked for at the Joan Gamper.”

Barcelona did not put up a great performance against Real Sociedad on the night, going down by a 2-1 scoreline to Imanol Alguacil’s men. Xavi, however, put the brunt of the defeat on the celebrations as opposed to slackness.

“There’s a harmony with the fans. We lacked rhythm today because we’ve been celebrating for a week. We didn’t have a great game.”

The manager was jubilant after the game, and understandably so given that his men had just lifted the league title. He talked about his speech to the fans and the motive behind his powerful words.

“I’ve prepared my speech because I wanted to thank you for being the Barça coach. I’m very happy to be the coach of these players, to be able to sing the Barça anthem with the fans!”

With two titles in his first full season at the club, Xavi has made a strong start to his career as the manager. Looking towards the season ahead, he revealed that there was reason to be more optimistic.

“The base is very solid for the next season, with young players who feel the colours. Next year it won’t be easy, because we’re going to Montjuïc, but if we strengthen ourselves and with the help of the board and the fans we can have a very exciting year.”

Barcelona’s season has been a roller coaster in every sense of the word. Every high has come with a compensatory pitfall, and Xavi highlighted the same by naming his best and worst moments of the 2022-23 years league campaign.

“The worst moment of the season? When you get the feeling that the fans don’t believe in you. The Barcelona environment is cruel in this sense.”

“My favourite moment of the season? Kessie’s goal in El Clásico. That goal won us La Liga.”

The likes of Marc Andre ter Stegen, Robert Lewandowski, Alejandro Balde, Pedri and Jules Kounde have all been included in La Liga’s team of the season. The one notably missing name was Ronald Araujo, and the manager revealed his surprise at the development.

“I was surprised that Araujo was not included in the La Liga team of the season.”

Amidst the heavy competition in midfield, Pablo Torre has been one to suffer with few minutes all season. Xavi had encouraging words for the youngster and promised him minutes in the games to come.

“Pablo Torre? There is a lot of competition but he played five minutes today and he will play in the remaining games.”

Finally, Xavi revealed that last night was one of the first times he ever heard Sergio Busquets being applauded with chants of his name in the stadium. Speaking about the departing legend, he said,

“This is one of the first times I’ve heard Busquets being applauded in his career! He deserves all the praise from the fans.”

Source: Barca TV Plus