As he gets his team ready for Thursday’s Europa League play-off first leg against Manchester United, Barcelona manager Xavi has revealed he can’t bear to hear the Champions League anthem.
Barca failed to advance past the group stage of the Champions League for the second consecutive season, this time finishing behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
They must therefore resume their European campaign in the Europa League, where they were eliminated by Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarterfinals the season before.
And it appears that Xavi still hasn’t entirely got over the Blaugrana’s humiliating exit from football’s top club competition back in November.
Speaking ahead of United’s visit to the Camp Nou, he said: “It still makes me angry to listen to the Champions League anthem from home. For history and greatness, we should be there.”
🎙️| XAVI: “I still feel angry that we’re not in the Champions League. We should always be there. Now we have to accept that reality and keep pushing forward.” pic.twitter.com/1qyDJUG3Q0
— total Barça (@totalBarca) February 15, 2023
The 43-year-old is under no illusions about the situation Barca find themselves in, though. He continued:
“But we have to face reality. We are excited about this competition [the Europa League], which has been very beautiful for the teams that have remained. It’s always important, and more so in Europe, since we’re coming off a few seasons without success.
“It’s a good test, without a doubt, to see that we can compete in Europe.”
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As runaway La Liga leaders, Barca almost certainly won’t need to win the Europa League in order to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
However, they do have a great opportunity to lift their first continental trophy since being crowned champions of Europe in 2015.
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