"Huge disappointment" - Xavi after Barcelona ouster to Eintracht Frankfurt in Europa League
Synopsis
Barcelona was ousted by Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Europa League 2021-22 quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Barca head coach Xavi termed it a huge disappointment.
It was a competitive clash between Spanish giants Barcelona and German side Eintracht Frankfurt in the second-leg quarterfinals of the 2021-22 UEFA Europa League (UEL). Played at Camp Nou in Barcelona, it was beaten 2-3, while the Spanish outfit suffered a 3-4 loss to be knocked out. Consequently, Barca head coach Xavi expressed his disappointment.
Frankfurt was in the lead throughout the match, as Filip Kostic (4 & 67) and Rafael Santos Borre (36) gave a 3-0 lead to the side. Although Sergio Busquets (90+1) and Memphis Depay (90+11) pulled things back during the closing stages, it was not enough to take it to extra time. Meanwhile, Barcelona was shocked to see about 30,000 Frankfurt fans flock to Camp Nou.
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"This is a huge disappointment, a real shame because we wanted to win this competition, but we have to congratulate Eintracht, they deserved to advance to the semis, and we didn't do well. We didn't play as we have recently. We're out," Xavi said after the match, reports Mundo Deportivo.
"We tried, but our problem was the football. We had possession, but we didn't take advantage of it. It was a fateful night. We made many mistakes. Their second goal comes from a turnover, the penalty was an error, and in the third goal, we are pressing one side of the pitch and allowing them to move to the other. It was something we talked about and cannot happen. We have to be self-critical, we didn't do well, so we're out," added Xavi.
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The Frankfurt fans stayed long back inside Camp Nou to celebrate their team's progress into the semis. As they kept cheering for the side long after the match, Barcelona is looking into the issue. "I was expecting 70,000 or 80,000 cules here, but it wasn't like that," an astonished Xavi wondered.
In the meantime, Barcelona president Joan Laporta commented on the issue, "We are worried that today a big shame happened that can't happen again. We have a large part of the information at hand of what happened, we need time to process this, and we will take the appropriate measures, but it's shameful what happened."