Barcelona coach Xavi expressed his gratitude for the support from former boss Ronald Koeman as he implored the Blaugrana to respond against Real Mallorca.
Xavi's side sit third in LaLiga, a point behind second-placed Sevilla – who have played a game more – and 15 behind runaway leaders Real Madrid.
However, Barca have fallen to three straight home defeats in all competitions for just the second time in their history, last doing so under Louis van Gaal between the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.
That torrid run culminated in their elimination from the Europa League and placed slight doubt over Champions League qualification, though they are six points ahead of fifth-placed Real Betis.
Koeman suggested on Thursday that Xavi deserves more support than he received when at Barca, with the Spaniard lifting the Blaugrana from ninth to third following the Dutchman's dismissal last October.
While Xavi welcomed the support of a fellow coach and revealed his admiration for Koeman, the 42-year-old urged Barca to improve against Mallorca on Sunday.
"I'm not going to change the feelings that Ronald has. I wasn't there and I'm not going to give my opinion," he told reporters at a pre-match news conference on Saturday.
"I have tremendous respect and admiration for him. Everyone has to support Barca. I have the utmost respect for Ronald for the work and effort he made. Thank him, nothing more.
"We are here and I do feel the support of the club and of Barcelona in general. It seemed that we had hit the key, but suddenly there were three defeats in a row.
"Now we have to see to the coach, the players, show our faces."
Barca have never lost four home games in a row in their history, and Xavi reiterated his calls for his side to respond against Mallorca, who have lost their last eight league meetings with the Blaugrana.
"It is time to take a step forward," he added. "You have to make more of a team than ever and bring out your personality. It's not because of a bad attitude.
"It's because of situations that have weighed us down. We have to improve. It's time to push it forward and bring out the personality. I have a winning team and that's the reality.
"You have to set challenges. Those who have the most desire will enter the Champions League. This is a club made to win titles. The second is the minimum required.
"On Monday we were angry, on Tuesday less and on Wednesday we were already working.
"It is a reality and you have to prepare yourself for that. You have to have faith to achieve the minimum objective."
Carlo Ancelotti's Madrid will be crowned champions if they avoid defeat against Espanyol the day before Barca are in action.
"If they are champions, we will congratulate them," he said of Madrid.
"They have been better because this is a long competition and usually the one who deserves it wins. We will congratulate them and next year we will compete better."
Kris Doolan buzzing as Stuart Bannigan boosts Partick Thistle before play-off
Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan has welcomed the return of Stuart Bannigan to add even more experience to his confident side ahead of their play-off final against Ross County.
The 30-year-old midfielder suffered a calf strain in the first half of Thistle’s quarter-final first-leg win over Queen’s Park, while Cammy Smith is also set to return after missing the semi-final games against Ayr with a groin issue.
The Jags have scored 16 goals in the cinch Premiership play-offs so far and Doolan has backed his players to handle the occasion ahead of Thursday’s first leg at Firhill.
“Stuart is back training now which is brilliant,” he said. “A guy like Stuart Bannigan coming back in lifts a team even more, as if they needed anything else to lift them. Even just to see him in training again… the boys got a wee spring in their step.
“He is such a big player for us and it’s great to see him back there leading within a group. I see a lot of leaders in the team and Stuart is one of them.
“You need that type of experience at this stage and it rubs off on the younger ones. They learn how to carry themselves, not to get carried away, not to get flustered and to enjoy it, embrace it.
“The play-off games are notoriously frantic and you have to understand how to handle that, but we have a lot of seasoned professionals, guys who have been through these type of games before, have played in the Premiership and top end of the Championship.
“We have good players who can handle the pressure. That’s shown in the four games we have had, we have not only scraped through the games, we have come flying through the games.”
Thistle have had a week to prepare for both legs against Ayr and will go into Thursday’s game with two more days of rest than County.
“I feel as if we are in the best shape we can be in,” Doolan said. “I think the boys have learned a lot about dealing with the play-offs, we have had four games under that pressure and scored 16 goals.
“To handle that type of pressure in the play-offs is a big feather in the cap of those players because I have been in the flipside of it. I have been in the Premiership side coming into the play-offs off the back of a season where you are used to losing games, and it becomes really difficult to turn a team round who have such good momentum.
“The four games we have had have been a great learning curve but also made us get stronger.
“If you are winning games, you don’t feel tired, you don’t feel sluggish. Our boys are desperate to play and they are full of energy.
“The confidence we have, we don’t come into these games fearful. We will be understanding of how difficult it is, we will give respect to Ross County because they are the Premiership side, but we play to win in every game and I see that mentality day in, day out.”
Old Road snaps St. Peters six-game win streak in SKNFA Premier League; Village, Conaree and Bath all secure wins
St. Peters FC’s six-game winning streak was broken on Friday when MFCR Old Road United Jets overcame a deficit to defeat them 4-1 in Verchilds in round two action of the SKNFA Premier League.
Tyquan Terrel put St. Peters ahead in the 28th min and they led for the rest of the first half. The second half, however, was all Old Road.
Tiquanny Williams started the comeback with a penalty in the 52nd minute and followed that up with a second goal in the 20 minutes later to give Old Road the lead before Kaylon Liburd scored a third in the 75th minute. Captain Nequan Browne completed the goalscoring in stoppage time.
Old Road coach, Alexis Morris, credited his team for their fight and resolve in the second half to claim a resounding victory.
“At the end of the first (half), we should not have been 1-0 down with (Tiquanny) getting in front of the goal. On any day he would have been scoring those goals. Nonetheless, we kept working and we dug deep and we found a way back, like I asked them to…I know we were going to get one back within the first 10 minutes and that set up the game for us,” Morris said.
Coach Austin Huggins of St. Peters said the team was unable to refocus after having a goal they scored early in the match, ruled out for offside.
“First of all, let me congratulate OR for scoring four goals. I think that the game was a good game. We had opportunities to score as early as couple of seconds after the game started, but the goal was disallowed and I think that the referee made some very difficult decisions that worked hard against us, broke our momentum, and put us in a very unfavorable position,” Huggins said.
In the day’s earlier match, league leaders Flow 4G Cayon Rockets comfortably defeated Jones Group Sandy Point FC 3-0, also in Verchilds.
Raheem Davis scored for Cayon in the 4th minute, Kavon Phillip scored a Sandy Point own goal in the 10th minute and Devontay Carty scored Cayon’s third in the 64th minute.
Coach Al Edwards of Cayon said despite the win, his team needs to do a better job in finishing their crosses.
“I like the fact that we got down the wings, which is one of our strengths. I like the fact we are putting in the crosses, but I don’t like the fact that we are not finishing those crosses,” he said.
Shaquan Pemberton a player with Sandy Point bemoaned his team’s loss at the bottom of the table.
“We started the game wrong and we didn’t commit to the plays and (Cayon) capitalized on it,” Pemberton said.
Fast Cash Saddlers FC suffered a 4-1 loss to Rams Village Superstars on Saturday at the St. Paul’s playing field.
Glenville Gumbs gave Saddlers a rare early lead in the 18th minute but that was soon erased when Village won a penalty, which was converted by G’vaune Amory in the 32nd minute.
In the second half, it was more Village, again earning another penalty, this time converted by Joseph Wilkes in the 60th min. Kimaree Rogers then got two breakaway runs, scoring both in the 73rd and in stoppage time.
Assistant Coach for Village, Vaughn Patrick, said they had a slow start, but they encouraged the players to keep pushing.
“We had a slow start; the fellows went out a little flat-footed. We went behind, we encouraged them, talked to them. We put in the fighting spirit. We got one goal; one led to two, two led to three, three led to four. We just keep on the pressure on them and play a little faster. We were too slow in the beginning,” Patrick said.
Coach of Saddlers Samuel Phipps said some tough calls by the referees, affected their ability to get a positive result. He said they will have to work hard now to get some wins under their belt.
“We played most of the difficult teams in the first half of the second round and then we intend to go back again and work hard and try to get some wins under our belt,” Phipps said.
In the next match-up, S L Horfords St. Paul’s United and Newtown United drew 1-1. Deneilson Thomas of Newtown gave the East Basseterre outfit the lead before April’s player of the month, Keithroy Freeman, equalized moments later heading in a corner.
Coach Anthony “Nets” Isaac of Newtown was pleased with the performance but said more work must be done defensively.
“I am about 80 percent satisfied, counting the last game we played against St. Paul’s. I think we did much better defensively, even though we gave up that soft goal,” Isaac said.
Manager of St. Paul’s, Austin Lewis, said the result is better than a loss.
“I appreciate the point,” he said.
Sunday’s action saw SOL IAS Conaree FC and Bath United earning crucial wins at Warner Park.
Conaree edged Hobson Enterprises Garden Hotspurs 2-1. Errol O’Loughlin scored both of Conaree’s goals from the penalty spot in the 38th and 71st minutes, while the lone goal from Spurs came from Steve Archibald in the 42nd min.
Coach of Conaree Al Richards said it was an important win for them.
“It was a dog fight. I told my team that it was a derby…this win was needed tonight in order to get up back in the table in the top six. The guys came out and performed, fight to the end and I must say congrats to my team,” Richards said.
Hotspurs coach, Stephen Brown, said the performance of his team was good but it was unfortunate they were unable to get the win.
“The performance of the guys wasn’t bad at all. They really put in a shift. We had some unfortunate calls that went against us that I felt decided the game but outside of that, I am content with the performance of the team,” Brown said.
In Sunday’s earlier match, Bath United trounced Security Forces FC 4-0. Goals were scored by Kenaicy Dorsett, Jalden Meyers, Omarion Bartlette, and Jahmal Lewis in the 19h, 1st minute of first-half stoppage time, 62nd and 81st minutes respectively.
Coventry confirm Fankaty Dabo exit days after his play-off final penalty miss
Coventry have confirmed Fankaty Dabo will leave the club at the end of the current season days after his decisive penalty miss in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final against Luton.
The defender has been with the Sky Blues since 2019 and joins Julien Dacosta, Todd Kane, Sean Maguire, Michael Rose, Martyn Waghorn and Tyler Walker in leaving the club when their contracts expire.
Loan players Jonathan Panzo, Callum Doyle, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Josh Wilson-Esbrand and Luke McNally will return to their parent clubs.
Manager Mark Robins thanked those leaving, and paid tribute to Dabo and Rose for playing key roles in Coventry’s League One success in 2019-20.
He told the club website: “I would like to thank those who are leaving for their time with us, the contributions that they have made to Coventry City, and wish them all of the best for their future careers.
“In particular, Fankaty Dabo and Michael Rose were huge parts of the side that won the League One title and then established us in the Championship.
“They will both be fondly remembered for many years to come by all Sky Blues fans, and the outpouring of support for Fanky (Dabo) from our supporters following Saturday goes to show the esteem he is held in.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
