Xavi: Bayern lead a bit excessive

Posted Wednesday, April 24, 2013 by Foxsports.com

Barcelona's Xavi admits Bayern Munich deserve to be in pole position, but he does not believe the Bavarian side's display merited a four-goal advantage.

On a quest to reach their third Champions League final in four years, Bayern Munich asserted their dominance in the first leg of the semi-final tie against Barcelona from the get-go. The German side outmanoeuvred their possession-reliant opponents with swift movement and went into the half-time break 1-0 up thanks to a Thomas Muller header.

Mario Gomez doubled Bayern's lead just four minutes into the second period after he was left unmarked during a corner, before Arjen Robben deservedly got his name on the score-sheet for running riot against their Spanish opponents and Muller managed to complete his brace to cap off an emphatic victory in front their fans.

Xavi told the Barcelona official website that the Bavarians outplayed Tito Vilanova's men in the first leg, but he warned Bayern that his team will look to overturn the result at the Camp Nou.

"The result is a bit excessive, but they were the better side. We have to congratulate them because they were superior, they took advantage of their assets," Xavi pointed out.

"We will try to fight back, because we’re Barça and we’ll keep on fighting until the end."

Centre-back Marc Bartra pointed out that Barcelona had fought back to score four goals against AC Milan in the Round of 16, so he was confident of the squad doing the same in the second-leg of this tie.

"We scored against Milan four times, why can’t we score four again? We need to be optimistic. We owe it to ourselves to finish well," Bartra said.

"I had two chances to score tonight [Tuesday], that’s not normal, but they didn’t go in. We have to keep on fighting."

Barcelona will travel to Athletic Bilbao for a La Liga fixture over the weekend, before welcoming Bayern Munich for the return leg of the tie next Wednesday.