Football
Busquets: Real Madrid were lucky to have the national break. If we’d kept playing in the league…
The Czech national football team did not qualify for the World Cup, which will be played in Qatar at the end of this year. As usual after the end of each qualification cycle, there should be some cuts in the squad this time as well. Which footballers from those nominated in the last 12 months have no future in the national team?
Just before the national break, Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 4:0, clearly the better team in the match. Even so, the Catalans are 12 points behind their rivals and nobody is counting on them for the title. Sergio Busquets, however, regrets the national break.
Barcelona had a tragic start to the season. At one point they were in ninth place in the league, even dropped out of the Champions League group stage and have to settle for the Europa League. It also lost in the Super Cup to Real Madrid and dropped out of the Copa del Rey to Athletic Bilbao.
Everything seemed to be going from strength to strength in Barcelona. But a new coach, Xavi, came in and first slowed down the fall, and now he has started to rise again with the team. In La Liga, the Blaugranas are already in third place and, moreover, after three years they finally beat the hated Real Madrid.
“From the 20th minute to the 70th, we were clearly better. We could have scored three goals, but we didn’t. We were much better and we completely outplayed them. But that doesn’t change the fact that Real Madrid are a great team. They were lucky – and we were unlucky – that then came the national break, after which it’s a bit of a fresh start again. Now the national team players are coming back, we’re playing in Seville… If we kept playing in the league, it would be a plus for us and for Real Madrid…,” Busquets reflected in an interview with RAC1.
Barcelona are three points behind second-placed Sevilla and 12 points behind first-placed Real Madrid, with nine rounds left in the league and 27 points still in play. So the Blaugranas are not losing any hope.
“We have hope and we will have hope until the end. We have to win and wait. We have a good series right now. We have to have this mentality to have even a small chance,” the 33-year-old midfielder says.
The biggest disgrace for Barcelona was definitely the relegation to the Europa League. How is the Catalan captain coping with playing in Europe’s second highest competition?
“It was a blow, but many clubs have gone through this situation. Bayern, Chelsea… You don’t play well and you pay the price. The important thing is to change that and come back stronger. That’s the way. We will fight in the Europa League until the end and we want to win it,” Busquets is clear.
Source: RAC1
