Barcelona would have breathed a huge sigh of relief at the full time whistle on Tuesday as they picked up an excellent comeback victory over Porto – a result that secures their place in the Champions League knockout stages.
It has been a tough few weeks for Barcelona, who have not been at their best for some time now, but this result could be a catalyst for things to turn around. Xavi Hernandez will hope so, and he assessed the victory over Porto post-match to the media (via Diario AS).
“After we fell behind, everything looked pretty bleak, but we had a winning mentality in many phases. In the second half we were much better, I’m happy, very happy today.”
Xavi also singles out Inaki Pena, standing in once again for the injured Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, for special praise, as he made several big saves during the match.
“Inaki Pena has been extraordinary. Not only with his saves, but also in the build-up. He has shown great personality.”
Barcelona and Xavi will hope that this result can be a springboard, and they will take more confidence into Sunday’s crunch showdown against Atletico Madrid.
Better performance tonight more like it not perfect but promising and encouraging signs of improvement for sure but im still not going to get carried away with this cause at the end of the day we where at home and with all due respect its only porto and the group was one of if not the easiest,have to disagree with xavis extraordinary inaki pena performance,for me inigo martinez was motm imo especially his long defence splitting passes very impressed by him so far,also another flawless performance by the giant that is ronald araujo and got to give a mention of the 2 Joaos aswel and not just because they both scored they were both good tonight,as i said encouraging signs tonight lets see now if xavi and the players build on this with important league matches coming up.
Its been a while since i saw a spark in the team. I hope it (re-) ignited the Barca i love since Schuster and Krankl were there.
One thing i do not understand is Xavi’s unconditional Love for Lewa. It beats me…Barca is constantly playing with 10 men. Lewa is gone…even the team knows that. As they dont supply him anymore. He screws up soooo much as he cant get through any defender anymore, looses the ball constantly, hus passing is soooo adequate….a pain watching him, really …yes last night he ran a lot…but thats just chasing the play he saw passing him ineffective.
Xavi….if u read this i hope it reaches your heart…the Culer heart. Get rid of him pls…we have important things ahead of us…
I have to agree with you on Lewandowski tbf he is trying like you say hes dropping back trying to get more involved and moving alot around the pitch but imo this is only making matters worse cause like you say his touch,his passing,even his hold up play like you say its painful to watch and hes looking more and more lost every match he plays,personally i think if we manage to actually bring in victor roque in January 🤞 many people including myself thought he would deputise for Lewandowski and learn from him but on current form i think the roles are going to be reversed and victor roque will start with Lewandowski being used from the bench time will tell off course and we are all only guessing as too how good victor roque will turn out to be and how long it will take him to adapt and settle in barcelona hopefully again 🤞 he comes in and hits the ground running.