He Barcelona advanced to the quarterfinals Champions Leaguee after defeating Napoli (3-1) this Tuesday at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium in the second leg of the round of 16 thanks to goals from Fermín López and Joao Cancelo in the first half, i Robert Lewandowski in the 83rd minute.
Coach from Barcelona, Xavi Hernandez, praised the center Pau Cubarsi The 17-year-old defender, who was voted the MVP in the victory this Tuesday and assures that his “heart rate does not increase” when he has the ball.
“We played one of the best matches of the season in an ideal environment. The players, young and veteran, took a very big step. We are among the eight best in champions. We had to suffer for two years in the Europa League, elimination in the round of 16 three years ago. We are back in the quarterfinals and we can be proud,” he said.
Xavi spoke about the message he gave to his players: “There is too much pressure on the players. Today it seemed like a life or death game. I told them to be calm, that nobody is going to die. There has been a lot of unfair criticism, “Then used to say that we are the pranksters of the ‘Champions’.”
What are we going to do with the prankster?for ‘Champions‘? Neither much nor little. It’s not like we’re going to win it now. Calm. I told them that they have to show that we can be better than Napoli and we were better in both games. The placement is well deserved,” he added.
Barcelona has not been among the top eight teams since the 2019-2020 season, when, after beating Napoli in the round of 16 (1-1 and 3-1), they were defeated by Bayern Munich (2-8) in one game without an audience.
Source: Panama America
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