Barcelona got a crucial away win over Real Sociedad on Thursday night but it was far from a comfortable affair.
The Catalans left the Reale Arena with all three points courtesy of a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang header after 12 minutes and enjoyed the better of the first half.
In the second however, Barcelona had to suffer plenty for their victory. La Real had several clear opportunities to equalise and three of their back four went off injured.
Xavi Hernandez recognised as much in his post-match presser.
“In the second half La Real had more of the ball than us, they came out in a flash. They are a very well trained team and we felt the fatigue of the [recent] matches. In the first half we were good, in the second we were not.”
“Today is not a head to puff our chests out, that is evident. The style wasn’t the right one in the second half but they are three golden points.”
The importance of the match was magnified by recent losses to Cadiz and Eintracht Frankfurt, where Barcelona did indeed leave a poor image of themselves. After the Cadiz match, Xavi had criticised the lack of competitive from his team and was pleased that it came back, as he told Mundo Deportivo.
“When you lose there are situations of sadness, doubts around you, but this is Barca. Despite not leaving an extraordinary impression of ourselves, we demonstrated that we knew how to compete.”
“I’m not entirely satisfied with the play, but I am with the dedication, the fight, the sacrifice.”
Dani Alves agreed with his manager in his pitch-side interview, adding that at least the team knew how to suffer. He also told the press that Real Madrid were lucky Barcelona started so slowly.
