Xavi Hernández analysed Barcelona’s 1-0 win over Atlético Madrid on Sunday night and admitted that his side struggled against Diego Simeone’s men.
“I was convinced by the first half hour. They did well. These are three golden points. We knew how to suffer… It’s important to keep a clean sheet. Today, without playing so well, we got three points,” he said post-match in quotes transcribed by Marca.
“It’s a victory that is not just three points. It gives us a lot of morale. We have won, suffering, at a difficult ground. I’m proud of the team. We’ve done it without playing excellently, like on the day of the derby or against Intercity.
“It’s important to win without Lewandowski. He’s a key player. We missed him in that high pressure. Ferran has done well, but we’ve missed him”.
Barcelona’s only goal came in the 22nd minute of the game when Pedri went on a solo run to make his way into the box, before finding Gavi, who laid it off to Ousmane Dembélé to fire it low and hard past Jan Oblak.
Atlético improved as the game went on and had chances through José María Giménez and Antoine Griezmann but failed to score and now find themselves in fifth place in the La Liga table.
GSFN
