Xavi Hernández remains calm after the good present in Barcelona: “We have to improve”

Barcelona goes through a present after eliminating Napoli in the Europa League after winning (4-2) in Italy. The azulgrana team played one of their best games as a visitor under Xavi Hernández. Since the former soccer player took over as coach, the team has raised its performance and, in LaLiga, climbed to fourth place (Champions League zone).

However, the Spanish strategist remains calm, considering that there are still details to polish. “We need to improve. We still lose unnecessary balls. We have to be ashamed to lose the ball. (Still) We are not at a very high level”he pointed out at the press conference on the eve of the match against Athletic for the local tournament.

“We have to concede fewer chances, minimize errors, lack of concentration at certain times. Not fitting us would be important to us. It is a short and medium term goal”, he added.

In the same way, he said he confessed that he receives the affection of the Barcelona fans. “I live this moment with great enthusiasm. The people who stop me on the street are excited. We have to continue working with the same effort. Here it is only worth winning. In the event that we do not win, that the fans feel proud because their team gives everything. Tomorrow we need the fans to be with us”, mentioned.

However, he also invited the followers to be calm. “It is good that there is enthusiasm and euphoria, but you have to be careful. We are in a moment of improvement, but we have to go game by game. We’re not ruling anything out, but we know there’s a lot of difficulty.”he added.

Xavi showed respect for his rivals on duty

On the other hand, the Barça coach highlighted the virtues of Athletic Club and its coach, Marcelino García Toral: “He is a great coach who demands a lot from them. He is a very physical rival, who can close down or press up high and who has just won 4-0 in the derby against Real Sociedad”.