“We are a better team than Real Madrid,” says Barcelona boss Xavi

The latest football docuseries, A New Era, recounts the ins and outs of the recent times of FC Barcelona and provides some never-before-seen footage, such as Xavi Hernández’s team talks before matches. One that particularly stands out is that ahead of El Clásico, against bitter rivals Real Madrid.

Xavi talks ahead of Clásicos

Before winning 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu, Xavi’s talk is surprising.

“Curiously, today in Madrid, it’s the day I’m calmer and as a coach I thought I would be more tense, more nervous, but I’m very calm, do you know why?”

“Because we are going to win,” defender Jordi Alba replies. Xavi responds.

“This, yes. And then because you have shown that you give everything on the field, it is a day of patience and personality. Patience with the ball, they’re going to get desperate, the fans are going to start whistling at them (...)

“This is the game we want, if you give everything on the pitch and you’re together, we are a better team than Real Madrid. If we play unsteady, now I attack you, now you attack me, I attack, you attack... then they are better.”.

You can also see Xavi’s talk before playing the Super Cup match against Los Blancos in Saudi Arabia, where he used the words of Toni Kroos to pique the pride of his footballers.

“Did you see Kroos yesterday? That he doesn’t see Barça, that it’s a miracle that Barça wins... Pride in ourselves is most important. We have to reach the final and lift the Cup.”

The game ended with a victory for Madrid after extra-time, but the Blaugrana coach, in a later interview, admits that he saw a change in his team that day.

“We somehow got rid of our complexes, we had them, my feeling is that we lost, not that Madrid beat us. But it served to recover a bit of the self-esteem and pride that we’d forgotten in recent years in the Clásicos.”

A New Era can be seen from 28 December on Amazon Prime Video.