Xavi Hernández: 'It was an even game'

A Clásico win always warms the heart of every culer. That also goes for Xavi Hernández, who was beaming as he arrived for the post-match press conference. However, he clearly wanted to put the 3-0 win into perspective. “We neither played well today nor poorly against Arsenal the other day. It was an even game and the result is misleading because Real Madrid also played well”, he explained after the fifth Clásico in 2023..

Despite the significant scoreline in the win, the coach preferred to comment on his own side's performance. “We are happy and it's always better to win than lose a Clásico, but at lot of things still need to improve. We often came close to what we want to be today, keeping the ball for long periods and attacking the space, but we still lost the ball stupidly at times, which needs correcting. The result is very positive but it doesn't mean we played really well”, he explained.

Fermín's emergence

One name in particular came out of this Clásico - Fermín López. Xavi praised the scorer of the second goal and provider of the third, “I like Fermín as a footballer. He is talented and has a final pass, which we were somewhat lacking last season. He can also shoot from outside the area and can use both feet. He has character despite only being 20 years old”.

“More additions would be welcome”

When asked about whether any more players are needed, Xavi had no doubt in stating, “Hopefully we can add more. We are still short and I have given my thoughts on it to the sporting management and the president. We are still lacking something to compete at a higher level”.
In this sense, he acknowledged that "Real Madrid have a larger squad than we do", referring to the significant number of midfielders in their roster.