Xavi: "Rijkaard did not believe in me"

Barça midfielder Xavi Hernández said the recipe to beat the azulgrana, recalled his time with Rijkaard and regretted that years ago were considered "bad, useless and harmful."

"The solution against us is to take away the ball. O trucar the playing field, play us in a very dry or tall grass," said the Spanish international in an interview with the weekly supplement of the French newspaper "L'Equipe" , which devotes a special Saturday at Barcelona.

Some of the strategies to put into "problems" Barça go through artificially slow down the playing conditions, influence the state of the pitch or close the team defensively and leave "a fast center forward in the center circle," said Xavi. "Normally, we know that sooner or later will mark," the three times winner of the Champions League.

The player praised the concept of football by Pep Guardiola, who assumes Johan Cruyff, and said that the club "has revolutionized the way football because the players like they should be coaches."

He confessed that his exentrenador, Dutchman Frank Rijkaard did not trust him and that was good for the club and for his own ego again feel "important."

"Rijkaard did not believe in me. I wanted to take our game to a higher physical dimension, considered it the only way to fight with the same weapons as the best European clubs," said Xavi.

The world champion also stressed the importance of the influence of Cruyff at Barcelona, where he took his philosophy that "the talent must take precedence over the physical."

"Four or five years, was appalling, useless, harmful. It was cancer of the Barça! A player of 1.70 was simply impossible," he recalled on the eve of play a league match against Real Madrid and the second leg the semifinal of the Champions League against Chelsea. (via SPORT)