O Barcelona beat Real Madrid this Thursday, by 1 to 0, in a duel valid for the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final. Despite the result, the coach of the Catalan team Xavi continues to see the rival as a favorite to have a place in the final.
“It’s a 1-0 advantage, but we’re going to have to compete against Madrid. The return, with our crowd, will be positive. But, I still see Madrid as favorites. Now, we have to think about Valencia”, he said.
The score was opened in the 26th minute of the first half, with an own goal by Brazilian Éder Militão. After a save by Courtois, the ball bounced off the defender and ended up in the back of the Madrid net. The coach praised his defensive sector, which held the result.
“Today they dominated us with the ball. We didn’t know how to find solutions for their high pressure and we could, perfectly, have tied. We won, but because we defended very well”, he continued.
Barcelona returns to the field this Sunday, for the 24th round of the Spanish Championship. The team receives Valencia, at Camp Nou, at 12:15 pm (Brasília time).
🇪🇸 Barcelona in the 2022/23 season:
▪️ 37J
▪️ 26V | 5E | 6D
▪️ 74.8% success rate
▪️ 76 goals
▪️ 30 goals conceded– Advantage in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey
– Supercup Champion
– Leader of Spanish
– Knocked out in the UCL group stage
– Eliminated in the round of 16 of the UEL pic.twitter.com/nevvRu0gPp— Footstats I2A (@Footstats) March 2, 2023
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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