Xavi: 'Man Utd's equalizer hurt Barca'

"The 1-1 equalizer hurt us," Xavi admitted after the match on the evening of February 23. "Barca lost the ball and they equalized. Man Utd attacked more fiercely. Besides, they also won us in duels."

Xavi also acknowledged Barca's lack of efficiency in the middle, but considered this a consequence of Pedri and Gavi's absence due to injury and suspension. "We lost because of the little details," Xavi said. "In the European arena, details like that are important. We should have led 2-0. All in all, we can't be proud, but we played against an excellent opponent."

In the second leg of the Europa League play-off round yesterday, Barca opened the scoring with Lewandowski's penalty in the 18th minute. However, the "Red Devils" equalized from a steal on the left wing in the 47th minute. After the pass. of Bruno Fernandes, Fred penetrated the penalty area to defeat goalkeeper Ter Stegen. In the 73rd minute, Man Utd continued to exploit Barca's disputed weaknesses. After the ball bounced off the opponent's defense, Antony shot diagonally to seal the victory 2-1.

Man Utd beat Barca with a total score of 4-3. Along with 15 other teams, the "Red Devils" are present in the 1/8 round of the Europa League. They will know the opponent in the draw on February 24.

Losing to Man Utd means that Barca ends its adventure in the European arena this season. Previously, they were behind Bayern and Inter in the Champions League group stage. "We played better than last year," Xavi said of last season's Europa League quarter-final defeat to Frankfurt. "This season we have played against Bayern, Inter and Man Utd. They are big teams and it is difficult to compete. Next season we will come back stronger."

Barca still has two arenas to compete in this season. They are leading La Liga with 59 points after 22 matches, eight points ahead of second-placed Real. In the King's Cup, they will meet Real in two semi-finals. Before that, Barca beat Real 3-1 in the final of the Spanish Super Cup.