Xavi Hernández: “Today’s added time is a shame, we are making a fool of ourselves” | Sports

Barcelona was choking on the game in Getafe and Xavi lost patience. “I told him that they were allowing a lot of fouls and we weren’t. That’s why he sent me off, ”explained the Barca coach in reference to the red card he saw in the second half. “He ostensibly protested one of my decisions,” the referee justified his warning in the minutes. Xavi’s anger did not end there. On the contrary. At the end of the meeting, the technician turned on more and more in his appearance for DAZN. “The other day we had a meeting with the referees and the first change in the rule they told us was going to be that they would understand us more as coaches, that we endure a lot of stress during matches,” he blurted out. He did not receive the desired empathy at the Coliseum. And he added: “My expulsion does not matter. It matters what happened on the pitch. We tried anyway, but we couldn’t. I think we deserved to win, but it wasn’t enough. A pity”.

This Sunday was the first expulsion of Xavi -he has received nine yellow cards- as a Barcelona coach in 91 games. As a player, on the other hand, he had seen four reds in 767 games. “They waste time, interrupt… it’s their football. It’s normal, ”he became irritated while analyzing the match. It was not the first time that Barça was silent at the Coliseum: for the fourth time in a row the team returned without a Madrid win. A draw not without controversy. Xavi exploded when asked about Gavi’s hand that the referee pointed out when the Catalans were protesting a penalty on Araujo. “I don’t see a hand anywhere. If they are not clear hands, do not whistle. That’s what they told us. I didn’t like the referees’ meeting the other day and I didn’t like it today either. Today’s weather is a shame”, stressed the Barça coach.

In the first half, the referee added 10 minutes, nine in the second. “You have to stop wasting time now. They have lost 25-30 minutes in the second half. It is a shame, the referees must act ”, intervened Frenkie De Jong. And, in case his position had not been clear, Xavi finished off: “You have to put effective time into football now. We are making a fool of ourselves.”

The Barcelona coaching staff knew that the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez was not the easiest place to awaken the League. “It is a field in which you need to be fine and it is difficult to be on the first day”, commented, in the preview of the duel, a member of the staff blaugrana Xavi, then, when he designed the line-up, opted for his four midfielders with the most touch: Oriol Romeu, Gündogan, De Jong and Pedri. “It’s one or two touches, one or two touches… let more things happen.” The hydration break in the first half passed and the coach repeated over and over again: “One or two touches, one or two touches.” There was no way to string together three passes in a row.

The Barcelona entity had managed to register most of its players – it only left the injured Iñigo Martínez off the list; the substitute goalkeeper, Iñaki Peña; and to the side, Marcos Alonso- and Xavi did not doubt that he needed two favorite reinforcements in his starting eleven: Gündogan and Oriol Romeu. The one who stayed on the bench was Gavi. The intensity of the youth squad player, with back problems and with just 30 minutes left in the last Joan Gamper Trophy, was not the card the coach needed in the Getafe field.

But Barcelona could not find a game in the midfield. Getafe, well grouped in the background, tightened the lines and turned off the talented Barca midfielders. Xavi, then, asked for more presence in the bands. None as important for the coach as Raphinha. In fact, the Brazilian was the most unbalanced footballer for Barça at the Coliseum: two shots, a great chance created, six games won out of eight and 100% effectiveness in his three attempted dribbles. But the Brazilian despaired, nothing unusual for the Catalans in Getafe. The frustration of 11 translated into an elbow to Damián Suárez. Red. “You play with one less and you have to adapt. It is a clear expulsion and it cannot happen to us ”, explained Ter Stegen, captain of Barcelona. “The Raphinha thing is a host of things. They let them play, they allow things and we don’t. The limits must be set by the referee, today he has allowed too much, to the point that we have lost our minds, which we should not do”, added Xavi. The referee whistled 20 Getafe fouls for the 11 that Barça pointed out to him. Raphinha, in any case, was not the only one from Barcelona who became exasperated at José Bordalás’ house.

To solve Raphinha’s absence, Xavi made up for it with Abde. And it was precisely in an action from the winger that Xavi lost the role. According to the coach, Abde was caught when he stood alone in front of David Soria. “The referee allows it. There is no other. I have mentioned it and they expel me for that. If we sell LaLiga and we have this… it’s not positive for anyone”, protested the Barcelona coach, who tried to see the more than 20 minutes remaining in the duel in the tunnel of changing rooms and then moved to the press booths, where the rest of your staff. At that time, the blaugranas and azulones were already playing with 10 players each after Jaime Mata received a double yellow card.

“I think we played a good game. We didn’t want to stop the game, but it was difficult, on the contrary, and for ourselves. They defend well, they are uncomfortable. They did not create danger and we did have one or two clear ones that could have given us victory”, insisted Ter Stegen. “In the second half we have been good, we have gone for the game, with 10 men we have been very good, last year we also started drawing, proud of the second half because of how the team has tried”, closed the Barcelona coach .

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