Barcelona were brought to earth in spectacular fashion on Thursday night, as Eintracht Frankfurt chased them out of house and home. They were eliminated from the Europa League too.
Naturally this formed a key topic of conversation in Xavi Hernandez’s next pre-match press conference. Barcelona face Cadiz at 21:00 CEST on Monday night once again at Camp Nou.
Speaking to Catalan daily Sport, Xavi was asked what effect the atmosphere had on them on Thursday night. An estimated 30,000 Eintracht fans had secured tickets for the match and made it an almost hostile atmosphere for the home team.
“I had bad feelings from the first moment. They threw all sorts of things at the coach, we didn’t feel at home, we conceded a penalty in the first minutes… It was a fateful night in every sense, sporting and institutional. The night started badly and ended badly.”
The final result was a 3-2 defeat, but it felt like more given Eintracht were leading by three until stoppage time. Having been on a run of fifteen unbeaten in La Liga, the press were keen to know what he told the players after such a harrowing defeat.
“We were aware that it could happen. Our objective was to win a title this season, now we will fight for La Liga even if it is very difficult. I’m proud of how we competed, of the attitude, but we have to minimise the mistakes. This has just begun.”
Barcelona must now focus their efforts on securing a Champions League place in La Liga, with only slim hopes of pushing Real Madrid for the title.
