Xavi refuses to label Barcelona as Europa League favourites

By Sports Desk November 01, 2022

Xavi has claimed Barcelona are candidates to triumph in the Europa League, but did not go as far as to call his side favourites.

Barca ran out 4-2 winners in their final Champions League game – a dead rubber against Viktoria Plzen.

Though they managed only two wins in their Champions League campaign, Barca will be one of the strongest, if not the strongest, sides in Europe's second-tier club competition.

While Xavi expects his side to be competitive, he did not claim they are outright frontrunners to succeed.

"I would say that we are candidates to win the Europa League," he said, sidestepping a direct answer when asked if Barca were favourites.

"There is a very nice Europa League left to play for, and at Barca, we are a candidate who can fight for it and achieve success."

To qualify for the last 16, Barca will need to head through a play-off round against second-place sides from the Europa League group stage.

They successfully defeated Napoli in the same bracket last season following another early Champions League exit, ultimately losing to eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals.

On another curtailed run at Europe's biggest prize, Xavi added: "The feedback is negative. This stage had its moments, and we didn't take our chances.

"Bayern Munich and Inter did. We couldn't win in Munich or Milan. This is the balance in the end."

Franck Kessie was forced off with a hamstring injury in the second half against Plzen and Xavi admitted the Ivory Coast international does not look to be in good shape.

"He is bad," he acknowledged. "He has hurt his hamstring. He has had the bad luck of an injury."

Related items

  • Joao Cancelo helps Barcelona complete incredible comeback against Celta Vigo Joao Cancelo helps Barcelona complete incredible comeback against Celta Vigo

    Joao Cancelo’s 89th-minute goal completed an amazing comeback by Barcelona as they scored three times in the final 10 minutes to beat Celta Vigo 3-2.

    Rafael Benitez’s Celta put in an excellent display and looked home and hosed as they went 2-0 up after 76 minutes when Tasos Douvikas added to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s excellent first-half goal.

    But they succumbed to an incredible late rally that no one saw coming as Robert Lewandowski scored twice in four minutes before former Manchester City defender Cancelo won it with one minute of normal time.

    The comeback will paper over the cracks of what was a worrying display for Barca, who were cut open at will by a vibrant Celta side, but Xavi’s men go to the top of the table with the three points.

    Benitez will be highly enthused by what he saw from his team, even if they are just one point above the drop zone.

    They looked more like the team at the top of the table with an incisive first-half performance, which was rewarded with a 19th-minute lead.

    Barca could not clear a corner properly and on the second phase Lucca De La Torre slipped in Larsen and the Norwegian produced a fine shot into the bottom corner with a finish his compatriot Erling Haaland would have been proud of.

    They should have led 2-0 five minutes before the break but Marc-Andre Ter Stegen produced a one-handed save to deny Larsen. The rebound fell to Jonathan Bamba and he was primed to score until Oriol Romeu produced a fine block. The danger was still not over as the ball fell to De La Torre, but he blazed over with the goal at his mercy.

    Celta thought they should have had a penalty early in the second half as their pace caused a constant threat on the break, but VAR ruled in the hosts’ favour.

    There was no escape, though, in the 76th minute as the visitors got their deserved second, which at the time looked to have sealed the points.

    They launched a quick counter-attack and Douvikas raced on to Iago Aspas’ perfect pass to convert with a bobbled finish.

    But Barca showed, even playing away from the Nou Camp, they can have a fortress in Estadi Olímpic Lluis Companys as they produced a fine three-goal salvo in eight minutes.

    Lewandowski started things off when he latched on to Joao Felix’s ball and hooked home in off the crossbar.

    Three minutes later it was all square as the Poland striker tucked home from Cancelo’s cross.

    Cancelo then took stage to win it in the 89th minute when he arrived in the box to convert Gavi’s cross and seal a sixth succesive win in all competitions.

  • Grant McCann believes Doncaster are heading in right direction after Gills scalp Grant McCann believes Doncaster are heading in right direction after Gills scalp

    Doncaster boss Grant McCann believes his side are only getting better after making it back-to-back wins with the 2-1 triumph over high-flying Gillingham.

    Two excellent strikes from Ben Close, including an 87th-minute winner, saw Rovers collect their first home league triumph of the campaign, a week on from finally picking up a maiden victory at Forest Green.

    And McCann feels his side are firmly heading in the right direction as they seek to make up ground on the promotion-chasing pack in the division.

    “We had to be very good to win and I felt in the second half we were as good as we have been this season,” he said. “I thought we were really in control.

    “We’re yet to have that full 90-minute performance. We’re still searching and that takes some doing, every manager will tell you that. Teams will always have a spell against you.

    “I felt that Gillingham didn’t really have much of a spell against us and on a whole, I felt the second half was a real performance from us.

    “I could feel the team taking on board the information we had given them, particularly in taking up the pockets of space to have that control of the game against a top, top team.”

    Gillingham manager Neil Harris is still looking for his team to find the balance between defensive solidity and creativity after dropping points in South Yorkshire.

    The Gills set the early pace in League Two with five 1-0 wins from their opening eight matches. But with Harris encouraging them to deliver more decisive scorelines, they have shown vulnerability in defence, which he is keen to see quickly banished.

    “In the last couple of weeks we’ve been a lot more creative, we’ve had sparks, we’ve shown class and we want to continue that because if we do, we will wins games of football comfortably,” Harris said.

    “We’ve won a lot of games so far 1-0 by being resilient. In the last couple we’ve not been as resilient as I would have liked but we’ve been really good with the ball. We’ve just got to find that balance between the two.

    “The winning goal for Doncaster – he stuck it in the top corner but it’s poor from the restart, and it was from the first. To be a top team in League Two, we’ve got to be better than that from restarts.”

    Despite his frustrations, Harris felt Gillingham should have won the game comfortably.

    He said: “I’m baffled how we’ve not won the game. We’ve not won the game because we weren’t clinical enough. We should have been coming off (with) four or five goals but if you don’t take your chances, you don’t win games.”

  • Nigel Clough praises patience as Mansfield go third Nigel Clough praises patience as Mansfield go third

    Mansfield manager Nigel Clough praised his side’s patience as they moved up into third place with a 1-0 home win over Barrow.

    Stags are the only EFL side unbeaten this season in all competitions but were made to sweat until Ollie Clarke drilled in the 72nd-minute winner.

    A red card in the 84th minute Junior Tiensia then sealed the Bluebirds’ fate.

    “We needed that win,” said Clough. “We are not quite as fluent as we were a few weeks ago, but you grind them out.

    “With nine players out at the moment, that is probably a good reason why we are disjointed at times.

    “But one good finish and you win the game – it was an important clean sheet.

    “In a few weeks’ time no one will remember the game, just the three points which have put us back up to third in the league. And I think there are going to be quite a few games like that here where we are going to have to be patient.

    “The crowd are going to have to be patient as well. We are not always going to be having 25 shots, as much as we’d like to.”

    Barrow had the edge in the first half and Emile Acquah missed the target with their two best chances.

    Rory Feely also sent a free header over from a 58th-minute corner.

    But Mansfield took control and Will Swan saw his shot deflect over, skimming the top of the crossbar on the hour.

    Calum Macdonald escaped with a yellow card for his challenge on 70 minutes before Clarke broke through with a low finish from 20 yards from Swan’s pull-back from the left.

    Tiensia then saw red on 83 minutes for diving in on Aaron Lewis.

    Barrow boss Pete Wild felt the game proved his side can live with the best and he felt Stags had the rub of the green on the red cards.

    “I thought first half we played really well and it was a classic away-from-home performance,” he said.

    “Second half as the home team they pinned us in and I didn’t think we got out enough and got on the front foot.

    “It is fine margins and it didn’t go our way. But there were mitigating circumstances and I feel hard done by.

    “The turning point for me was they should have had a red card before ours. He dived in and left the floor. Our lad’s was a red though, which didn’t help us.

    “They won it with the one shot we haven’t blocked in the whole game.

    “There was nothing between the two teams which shows we can live with the top teams at this level. But they have just edged it today.”

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.