Barcelona suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of their rivals, Real Madrid, who outclassed them 4-0 in a Copa del Rey match at Camp Nou on Wednesday. The defeat was particularly hard to swallow for Xavi Hernandez, who had led Barcelona to victory in the last three Clasicos. Madrid advanced to the final 4-1 on aggregate after Vinicius Junior opened the scoring and Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick in the second half of the second leg.
In an interview with reporters after the match, Xavi admitted that it would be difficult to sleep after such a heavy loss, especially given his love for the club. “We’re hurt today, yes. It will be hard to sleep, more so as the big Barca fan that I am,” he said. Xavi had warned his players about the strength of the Madrid team, but they were unable to prevent the loss. “I told the players (this could happen), we had chances but went in at 1-0. It’s a shame because we competed well in the first half and that was our moment. In the second Madrid were better, sincerely, they were better physically, they pressed us high. There are no excuses,” he added.
Despite the painful defeat, Xavi remained optimistic and believed that Barcelona could still clinch the Spanish title. The team currently holds a 12 point advantage over Real Madrid in second place. Barcelona had also beaten their rivals in the Spanish Super Cup final in January. “If we win La Liga and the Super Cup it’s a good season,” he said. “There are 11 finals left, and we have to keep competing.”
The defeat was a tough pill to swallow for Barcelona fans, who have been used to their team’s dominance in the league. However, Xavi remained confident in his team’s ability to bounce back and finish the season strong.
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