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| Coach Xavi Hernandez of FC Barcelona during the La Liga Santander match between Real Betis Sevilla v FC Barcelona at the Estadio Benito Villamarin on May 7, 2022 in Sevilla Spain. |
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez has happy to see his side beat Real Betis 2-1 in La Liga on Saturday but admitted there’s still work to be done.
Goals from Ansu Fati and Jordi Alba secured all three points for Barcelona, but Xavi wasn’t completely happy with his team’s performance.
I think that the only thing we are missing is we were able to control the game in parts for the match, but we have given the ball away at times, he said.
Betis made us struggle, they are great in transition but we struggled at times when we gave away the ball. I’m pleased we were at least competitive.
Xavi went on to highlight his team’s performance against La Liga’s top sides this season after seeing his players secured Champions League football for 2022-23.
Maybe in November we would have lost this game, or conceded another goal, but we were able to take the lead twice,” he said.
We’ve beaten the top 10 in La Liga, in this second round of games, despite a few poor results against Cadiz and Rayo. That’s why we are competing near the top. We still need to improve but we have been able to be a competitive side.
We can do things, we are at least competitive, we have character, personality. We have a winning personality in the squad and that’s why we are where we are. We have beaten all the sides in the top 10 and that’s very positive.
The Barcelona boss also took time out to praise Fati after the 19-year-old scored his first goal since recovering from his latest injury lay-off.
We started him on the left today but we know we can play anywhere,” he said. “We wanted him to cut inside, but if he has two chances, he scores one. He is dangerous in the box, there are some players who are very good, Ansu Fati is just a star.
Fati now has six goals in 12 outings this season and only five of those appearances have been starts. All of which averages out to a goal every 81 minutes.
