“Everything is criticized for me; It doesn’t bother me, but I won’t stop, I won’t shut up”. Xavi Hernández, Barcelona coach, has insisted this Saturday on the need for football matches to be played on an approved surface after last week he complained about the Getafe grass. “No matter how many memes they make me, I say that the sun bothers me and the dry field does not benefit us,” he argued. “The question is for Quique,” he added, referring to the Getafe coach. “Why didn’t you water the field? Why was the grass higher than usual? I am not going to stop until there is a standard on the surface that is equal for all, as it happens in all sports: in golf, if the grass is high, it is cut; if Lebron James has a wet track, he passes the carpet and dries it; if it rains at tennis matches, he stops. And we get puddles. If we want a show, let’s take care of the surface. It seems normal to me that youth do not watch the entire games. And I’m not saying it because of the result; I say it the same when I win, lose or draw”.
Barça will receive Atlético tomorrow at the Camp Nou also at 4:15 p.m., just like last Sunday in Getafe, a game that ended 0-0. “A big, complicated match, because we played against the team that was in the best shape by game and by results”, explained Xavi. “Atlético has character, it is a chameleonic team and its current state is graceful. Although we have different ideas and models, I have a lot of admiration for Cholo Simeone”. The Barça coach recovers Pedri and Frenkie de Jong, at the same time that he has called up 15-year-old striker Lamine Yamal, a player who is ending his contract with Barcelona.
“We want to have an identity again, be a recognizable team, recover sensations”, Xavi added “It is a game to react, to say that we are there again, after three games in which we have not been at the best level. A key day to say: we are going to win the League, we are going to do things well”. With nine games to go, Barcelona takes 11 points from Real Madrid and 13 from Atlético.
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