Xavi Speaks On Feeling ‘Robbed’ By Frankfurt And Club’s Style Ahead Of FC Barcelona-Cadiz Clash

FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez has spoken on the feeling of being ‘robbed’ by Frankfurt and their fans in the Europa League ahead of his team’s La Liga clash with Cadiz on Monday.

The Blaugrana were beaten 3-2 by the Germans to lose 4-3 on aggregate in their quarter-final second leg tie, but the manner in which their supporters seemed to be outnumbered by the visitors in their own Camp Nou stadium has led to suggestions that the match was lost before kick-off.

“It all started bad,” Xavi said in his pre-match press conference on Sunday. “They took everything from us in our house, we couldn’t enter through the tunnel. It was fateful in every way. We felt robbed in our home.”

“I guess they will,” Xavi answered, when asked if explanations had been given as to how the debacle was allowed to happen. “I know they were looking for them.”

“It was a mistake as a club, it’s obvious,” Xavi admitted. “What is clear is that it can never happen again. It conditioned us a lot.”

“I don’t know who says it,” the coach claimed, when asked if his playing style is being questioned whenever Barca suffer big defeats. “We have won five Champions with this style. The style that Johan Cruyff imposed has been very fruitful for us.”

“There is no lurching when you lose. We have to believe in what we do. We have to insist and the fruits will come, be it with me or with another coach.”

“Our model of play has to be this one,” Xavi stressed.

As for Monday’s foe, with keeping the heat on league leaders Real Madrid essential, Xavi predicted that Cadiz “will come to defend like Eintracht or Levante”.

“They have improved a lot with Sergio [Gonzalez]. They’ve gotten points lately. It’s going to be difficult and after the defeat the other day we have to recover. There are eight finals left. Hopefully we have the fans with us [to] help us,” Xavi added.

Calling Thursday’s defeat a hard blow, Xavi insisted that his charges are “ready to compete”.

“I hope that the public will be with the team tomorrow, we miss them. But they have always been with us,” he finished on this.