Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez is happy as his side beat rivals Real Madrid 2-1 yesterday. The win puts them 12 points ahead of Real Madrid and it seems La Liga is theirs for the taking.
Barcelona hosted Real Madrid at Spotify Camp Nou as the latter stage of the league season began. Barcelona started the game well and forced Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to make some saves. Though against the run of play, Vinicius Jr managed to force an own goal from Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo. The ball had reached Aruajo’s head and went into the net with Ter Stegan unable to do anything. It was the first home goal they conceded in the league.
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Barca then managed to pull one back in the stroke of half time as Sergi Roberto managed to score from a rebound. Barca midfielder Franck Kessie scored a late winner from a Balde assist in the 91st minute. The win effectively placed Barcelona as the only team to be able to win the league with Madrid 12 points behind.
Why was the match controversial?
A point of controversy in the match was when Marco Asensio’s potential winner in the 81st minute was not counted as VAR had overruled the goal for offside through the narrowest of margins. This was made more controversial as Barcelona is currently dealing with a referee scandal already.
However, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti believed the win was due to refereeing decisions and that his team was the better one. He spoke in the post-game press conference, “We played a good game, we deserved to win. There remains the question of the goal that was disallowed. We were convinced that the game was won. We leave this game with the confidence that we can finish the season well.”
Ancelotti: "We played a good game, we deserved to win. There remains the question of the goal that was disallowed. We were convinced that the game was won. We leave this game with the confidence that we can finish the season well." pic.twitter.com/WMkwMSR02J
— Madrid Universal (@MadridUniversal) March 19, 2023
Barca and Real also had a historic decline in their relationship following Real’s support for the investigation into Barca’s referee scandal. So it was expected for the two to clash heads off the pitch.
What did Xavi Hernandez have to say?
When Xavi was asked about what he thinks about Ancelotti’s opinions, he did not hold back. He explained his surprise at the remarks saying, “I’m surprised that Ancelotti has doubts about the disallowed goal because it’s a scientific question. It is clearly offside and there is no doubt. If people are talking about the VAR today, it’s a joke. The offside is very clear.”
Ancelotti said that he has doubts about the offside call, and that the result was not fair.
— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) March 19, 2023
Xavi: "We were better than Real Madrid. The result is fair. The only thing that was unfair was their 0-1 lead." pic.twitter.com/hyBVDqgmuP
Xavi also congratulated his players for their victory, “I’m very happy because everyone is working hard. There is little talk that we are doing an extraordinary league campaign and I am very happy for my players because they suffer from the criticism. We gave everything we had against a great team that was showing all its power in the last few games.”
Barcelona will continue their La Liga title race on April 2 after the international break when they face Elche.
What do you think about Xavi’s comments? Do you think Real Madrid was robbed of a goal? Let us know in the comments down below!
