The Barcelona president stressed that the team’s priority is to win LaLiga, where they are currently sitting at the table ahead of Sunday’s Clasico at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
Barca can compete with the big teams in Europe
Joan Laporta has placed his confidence in Xavi Hernandez despite Barcelona’s 3-3 home draw against Inter and their possible elimination from the Champions League. The Barcelona president stressed that the team’s priority is to win LaLiga, where they are currently sitting at the table ahead of Sunday’s Clasico at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. “The confidence is intact in Xavi and in the players, who are very good,” Laporta told reporters. “We can compete with the big teams in Europe. We saw the difference in the games with Bayern Munich between this year and last year. The players have to adapt to a system, but Xavi can help the team can progress. The Champions League has given us a blow, but we have to do the job and concentrate fully on LaLiga.”
The game at the Bernabeu is one of the matches everyone like
“Xavi has shown that he is a man who knows the club and the system perfectly, and as a person, he is excellent. He will get better and give us a lot of success. We always talk. I always go down to the dressing room, commenting on how it has gone, and I saw him sad, touched, and hurt. But he has a virtue, which nobody else has, that he always sees the positive side of things. We are top in LaLiga. The game at the Bernabeu is one of the matches we like.” Laporta commented on Barcelona’s performances in Europe thus far, reiterating that VAR decisions proved costly away at Inter. “We have many important injuries,” Laporta continued. “I’m sad and angry that we didn’t win, despite scoring three goals.”
The priority objective is LaLiga
“We must change our mindset now for LaLiga and we must keep fighting to be first. We have an excellent squad and players who have generated great expectations. The priority objective is LaLiga, the group stage has become very complicated, but I prefer to talk when it’s over. Now we have to focus on LaLiga, not just this Sunday. We have Villarreal and Athletic Club. I didn’t expect to be like this at this stage. The coaching staff and the coach have done everything to be competitive. We were drawn into a complicated group, but against Bayern Munich, we got a good result. The VAR referee didn’t give a penalty to Ousmane Dembele, and in Milan, the refereeing was scandalous. We didn’t like the refereeing, it’s obvious, but if we had scored, it would have been easier for us.”
Barcelona revealed on Friday that their shirt for the Clasico will feature Drake’s logo on the front as part of their partnership with Spotify. Laporta revealed that Spotify could change the logo that appears three times per season. “You know that Spotify has the right to change the sponsorship logo three times a year, always respecting the club,” Laporta added. “As of October 17, the app will be available in Catalan. This innovative look has appeared with the Drake logo. I was surprised by the number of streams. This singer is a reference and is very famous. There will be a worldwide impact.”