According to Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez, his team wants to hold onto the league lead through the remainder of the campaign.
But the Spanish coach acknowledged that his team needs to get better if they’re going to achieve it.
After losing 1-0 to Inter in the middle of the week, the Blaugrana face Celta Vigo on Sunday night at the Camp Nou in an effort to turn things around.
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Real Madrid will be under pressure to retake first place on goal differential after defeating Getafe 1-0 on Saturday, regaining the lead.
But Xavi separated the match against Celta from those against Inter and Mallorca, claiming that Celta were a distinct team that would press them.
At the news conference prior to the game, Xavi stated that Celta had no connection to Mallorca or Inter.
“The coach of Celta wants his squad to search for the ball, take the lead, and be present in the middle of the field.
“They made the game for us really challenging last year. They just triumphed over [Real] Betis.
They’ll try to press us. For us, it will be difficult. But we need to stand up again. We must respond.
The attention of Xavi’s team is solely on the match against Celta and not Inter, as seen by his declaration that he will field his strongest lineup.
“We’ll field the strongest XI. We consider exhaustion and injury. We constantly consider that. But Inter is not on our minds right now.
“We want to maintain our position as the season’s early leaders. That is our goal.
“After that, we’ll consider Inter. We are entirely committed to Celta.
Due to injury, Frenkie De Jong will be available for Barcelona in tonight’s match, replacing Memphis Depay, Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Hector Bellerin, Jules Kounde, and Frank Kessie.