Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez discussed his side’s Champions League campaign after they were held to a costly 3-3 draw by Inter Milan. The Catalans will enter the Europa League for the second consecutive season.
Internazionale will qualify for the next round with a win over Viktoria Plzen, and Xavi believes his team has been treated unfairly in Europe’s top competition.
“The truth is that this Champions League is being cruel to us. From Munich, through Milan and tonight, we deserved more.”
“The first half was excellent, we only conceded a chance to Dzeko, we went into the break satisfied, but we conceded too much in the second half, we made serious defensive mistakes that are very expensive in the Champions League. It’s not just about attacking, it’s also about defending.”
Barcelona took the lead through Ousmane Dembele but were pegged back shortly after halftime when Nicolo Barella equalised. Lautaro Martinez then put Inter ahead, and Xavi felt his team’s intensity had dropped after the break.
“We should have kept up the pace, the intensity of the first half and we didn’t. We don’t depend on ourselves and the Champions League is very complicated.
Football is a game of mistakes and we have to minimise them. In Munich it was effectiveness, in Milan other circumstances and tonight it was defensive mistakes.”
Inter would have taken all three points, but two goals from Robert Lewandowski ensured that Barcelona salvaged a point and, mathematically, remained in the Champions League for another couple of weeks.
Barça must win their final two games, while Inter cannot win more than one point in their final two games if the Catalans are to progress to the next round. But given Inter host Viktoria and Barca play Bayern Munich, all hopes for the LaLiga giants to make it to the next round is over.
The Blaugrana are unbeaten in LaLiga and top the table, but they face Real Madrid, who are also unbeaten and only separated by goal difference, in the first El Clasico of the season on Sunday.
