Barcelona manager Xavi says he is pleased with his side performance despite suffering defeat against Real Madrid in the Super Cup.
Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 3-2 but the League leader achieved the victory after the normal time of the game.
Federico Valverde scored the decisive goal in extra time after Ansu Fati had equalised with seven minutes of normal time remaining.
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior had earlier put Los Blancos ahead but Luuk de Jong scored to draw level in the first half of the game.
French forward Karim Benzema restored Madrid’s lead before Fati brought Barca back on level terms.
Xavi was pleased with his side’s performance and stated that his players could be proud of their efforts.
“I think we were better than Madrid in terms of play, dominance, and we had the game under control,” he told Movistar.
“We took a lot of risks and we knew how to control transitions, and this is the way to compete.
“In the end we had the match and if you toss a coin and it comes up heads, nobody would have said anything, but tails came up.
“We can go away proud because we have competed against them and it is a step forward despite the result.
“We are on the right track and while it was not a turning point in terms of the result, it was in terms of how we played and how we felt.”
The result was Madrid’s fifth consecutive win over Barca in all competitions – only the second time they have achieved this after a run of seven straight wins between 1962 and 1965.
Despite the result, Gerard Pique was pleased with Barca’s performance and believes that the Catalan giants will bounce back.
“I think we competed very well,” he said. “It is not the result we expected; losing against Madrid hurts but we are closer to winning. We need to win; we need that definitive step.
“We played well. We took risks and we have gone for the game. They arrived in the area with many players and they scored a goal but playing like this we are going to win.
“We should leave with our heads held high after competing like that against Madrid.”
Source: Livescore
