The coach asked his players to make an ‘extra’ effort to achieve the two main objectives: enter the Champions League and finish second to play in the Spanish Super Cup.
The situation
“We are going to play four more finals from here to the rest of the season. Four vital games. And the first is the most important of all, because if we beat Betis we will already close the Champions League barracks and we practically have the second place guaranteed” . That’s how forceful Xavi Hernández spoke to his players this week to make them aware of the importance of Saturday’s match at the Benito Villamarín, where no title is at stake, but the ‘sine qua non’ obligation of qualifying the team in the next edition is of the Champions League and finishing second to play in the Spanish Super Cup. The challenge is announced as more than complicated: the team will travel to Seville without the presence, as we anticipated exclusively in AS, of one of its leaders, Gerard Pique, due to his discomfort in the adductors, which could leave him in the dry dock all that remains of the season.
Important details
But Xavi does not want excuses and is looking to find the key to motivate his men, something that, as he himself admitted, he did not know how to do either against Cadiz or against Rayo, where the team came out excessively relaxed and ended up paying the consequences in the form of paths defeats. For this reason, Xavi expects a reaction of pride and ambition from his players this Saturday. And it is that a victory against Betis would serve to achieve the minimum objective that was set when he took the team – they were ninth, eleven points behind the leader – of being in the Champions League next year. A Blaugrana win would leave the Verdiblanco club eleven points behind, with three games to go, so Europe would be fully guaranteed . In addition, the victory could put land in the middle with respect to the pursuers, since Sevilla visits Villarreal and Atletico plays against Real Madrid at the Wanda.