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9 months ago
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It was a joyous Sunday night for FC Barcelona as they cruised to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Atletico Madrid away at the Civitas Metropolitano.
Goals from Joao Felix, Robert Lewandowski, and Fermin Lopez sealed and huge win for the Blaugrana as they rose to second spot in the La Liga standings.
What made the win even more impressive is the fact that Barcelona were without a host of key players like Pedri, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Alejandro Balde, Ferran Torres, Joao Cancelo, and Andreas Christensen on the night.
Not giving up on La Liga
Speaking after the match, Fermin, who was one of the goalscorers, dedicated the victory to Joao Cancelo, who did not feature against Atletico due to some personal problems.
“I’m very happy, we wanted to dedicate the victory to Cancelo who is having a bad time,” he remarked, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.
With the win, Barcelona find themselves eight points behind league leaders Real Madrid with nine games left to be played – including a Clasico. And Fermin vowed to keep fighting for the title, saying:
“We’ll keep going like this, trying to cut points. There are still a lot of games left and we’re going to keep fighting for La Liga.”
Fermin was not initially named in the starting XI last night, but was forced to start just before kickoff as Andreas Christensen picked up some discomfort. On that matter, he said: “It caught me a bit by surprise, but he told me to play calmly.”
When asked if Barcelona were in their best moment of the season, Fermin replied: “I think so, we are in a good dynamic, we have to continue like this.”
“We have to prolong this dynamic after the Champions League game. We have a lot of absentees, but I think everyone is ready to play. I’m very grateful to the coach for the opportunity,” he added.
Captain happy with the win
A happy captain. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images)Barcelona captain Sergi Roberto also spoke to the media and expressed his happiness after the team picked up yet another important win in the aftermath of the Napoli game.
“It’s been an important week, with a lot of emotions after qualifying for the quarter finals. I’m happy for the victory and for the coach for everything we’ve suffered,” said Roberto, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.
It has not been an easy road for Roberto, for he has struggled with injury issues for the most part of 2024. But the versatile midfielder admitted that he has put those behind now, saying:
“I’ve had an Achilles problem since the end of January, we’ve had a lot of absentees and we’ve recovered, we have a very good team. I’m also happy for the coach for everything we’ve suffered.”
Concluding, Roberto added that Barcelona had no margin for error for the remainder of the season, saying:
“We have a very important stretch of the season coming up, every game will be a final. We know that we have to give our maximum in every game, we’re going to fight for everything.”
