Barcelona coach Xavi: No issues with Gündogan’s Clásico rant

Xavi Hernández mentioned he agrees with Ilkay Gündogan after the midfielder slammed Barcelona for not displaying sufficient anger or emotion after final week’s El Clásico defeat to Real Madrid.

Gündogan’s feedback have drawn headlines in Spain and past, however Barça coach Xavi mentioned they’d not created any controversy among the many enjoying squad.

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“Conforming is not part of Barcelona’s DNA,” Xavi mentioned in a information convention forward of Saturday’s journey to Real Sociedad in LaLiga. “There is a demand for excellence and to win here.

“Gündogan’s interview was spoken about inside the dressing room, he clarified what he meant and there’s no downside. No one has to inform us what the calls for are at Barça — particularly me having spent my complete life on the membership.

“We agree with Gündogan and don’t see any controversy. We lost El Clásico because we made mistakes. There was a lack of concentration and we disconnected.

“He expressed the anger all of us felt. I may have mentioned it or another person, however he did as a result of his tradition is probably completely different to ours.

“If you see the defeat Bayern [Munich] suffered the other day, the captain came out, [Thomas] Müller, and said something similar. It is cultural.

“There has been no controversy generated in our dressing room. We assume the identical as Gündogan. This is Barça. That’s the extent of demand and excellence right here. That is how it’s.”

Two Jude Bellingham goals cancelled out Gündogan’s opener in El Clásico and the former Manchester City player said he wished for more “frustration and extra anger” from his teammates after the loss.

“This is somewhat bit the issue,” he told LaLiga TV. “There must be extra emotion, particularly while you lose and when you realize you possibly can carry out higher, do higher in sure conditions and also you simply do not react.”

Barça travel to fifth-placed Real Sociedad this weekend as they look to get back to winning ways after slipping four points behind joint leaders Madrid and Girona.

Frenkie de Jong and Sergi Roberto are still injured, but midfielder Pedri returns for the game after two months out, with Xavi urging his players to learn from their El Clásico defeat.

“The feeling is of anger [after losing],” he added. “We had the sport managed and had been enjoying properly. We misplaced a sport we had in our fingers.

“But nothing is lost yet and at least it was not a Champions League knockout game. We can learn, we are only four points off the top and there is time to make up for our errors.

“Now we now have an actual high-level check on Saturday in opposition to a Champions League-level opponent. La Real do issues properly in defence, assault and so they play with depth.

“Imanol [Alguacil] is one of the best coaches in the league. He has his side playing good football but, after losing to Madrid, the team stepped up in training this week. Now we have show that we can react.”

Meanwhile, UEFA introduced the dismissal of an enchantment by Barça in opposition to a €500,000 ($536,000) advantageous for breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

“FC Barcelona was fined €500,000 for wrongly reporting, in the financial year 2022, profits on disposal of intangible assets [other than player transfers] which are not a relevant income under the regulations,” UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body mentioned.

Several high-profile European golf equipment, together with Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Inter Milan, who agreed settlements with UEFA in September final yr, have fulfilled targets set for the monetary yr 2022.

Information from Reuters was included on this report.