Xavi again complained about the quality of the pitch after the draw with Frankfurt. He’s already famous for that in Spain

In the quarter-finals of the Europa League, Barcelona played Eintracht Frankfurt and drew 1-1. The Blaugranas coach, Xavi, was very unhappy with the playing surface at the Waldstadion.

Frankfurt was not scared of Barcelona. Although the Catalans had more possession of the ball, the home side were very dangerous and active offensively. Before half-time, Frankfurt should have even kicked a penalty after a tackle by Sergio Busquets, but VAR overturned the decision.

But that didn’t stop Eintracht and they struck just after the change of sides. Knauff sent the home side into the lead with a beautiful volley into the net. Barcelona then managed to equalise at 1-1 after a Torres goal, and in the last quarter of an hour the Catalans played a powerplay after Tuta was sent off. However, even this did not help to score the winning goal.

The reason? According to Xavi, the turf. The Barcelona coach mentioned the bad pitch in six answers at the press conference.

“The turf was not good for us. The ball didn’t travel well, we had to take an extra touch and the game was slowing down. The pitch just wasn’t in perfect shape and it didn’t make it any easier for us. It was hard to attack on this one,” complained Xavi.

“They were well organized, but the pitch was bad. The pitch will be much better for us at Camp Nou, it didn’t go well today,” the Barcelona coach mentioned several times.

But this is not the first time Xavi complains about the quality of the pitch. He is already famous for it in Spain, both as a player and as a coach. It didn’t take long for the Spanish media to pull out a few snippets from history when the Barcelona icon also complained about the turf.

2014

2011:: ” We felt good, despite the pitch. The turf was really high.”

2011:: ” The fan wants to see good entertainment. He doesn’t want to see the turf high and dry. That puts offensive football at a disadvantage. It’s sad that in 2011 there are still no rules for what the turf should look like.”

On the one hand, Xavi is clearly right. Anyone who has ever tried to play football on perfectly prepared and bad turf knows how big the difference is.

On the other hand, Xavi’s excuses sometimes seem unnecessarily cramped. Against Frankfurt, Barcelona didn’t give a good performance at all and a little self-criticism wouldn’t hurt either, rather than blaming everything on the turf.

Source: El Chirinquito