Barcelona wing player Raphinha said he understood the angry reaction of Lamine Yamal that he was “very well” replaced after he was removed in the 2-2 draw of Barcelona with Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The draw means that Barcelona finished second in the 36 team League, which guarantees a bye by the play-off round.
But they were fed back twice, after they initially took the lead on Wednesday, where Yamal scored the opening goal of the game. The teenager seemed to be frustrated in the second half, but Raphinha insisted that there were no problems.
“He is a spectacular player, it is understandable that he gets angry. I understand his anger not to finish the game because it has often happened to me,” he said.
“But he did very well, he helped the team and scored a goal. I try to help him and I can say that I am very happy with his performance today and the whole season.”
Although Raphinha recognized the disappointment not to win the game, he suggested that “we should see the quality of our opponents”.
“Atalanta defended well and then took their chances. We have passed the first phase, we are happy, and now we have to place our heads in La Liga.
“Running the whole field one-on-one is a bit boring, but we had to do our thing. We tried to do our thing, but in the end we took a point,” he said.
7-FC Barcelona has won seven of their last eight UEFA Champions League Home Games (L1) and scored 25 goals, with their only defeat against PSG in the quarterfinals of last season (4-1).
Convincing. pic.twitter.com/57BYTW2NLX
– Optajose (@Optajose) January 29, 2025
Barcelona -head coach Hansi Flick agreed with the Brazilian, suggesting that finishing second place was an overwhelming positive result.
“I am happy with the second position in the competition phase. I think it is a great success for the team. Today was a difficult game,” said Flick.
“I think we could have done a little better, but in general we are satisfied with the result and they qualify second. It was definitely a great football match because Atalanta defended one-on-one well, and we have a lot of it learned this game with a view to the future.
“That is what we have to improve, the defensive work. We are happy to finish in this position, but we have to work on many things. We have the potential to do something more, and now we will have an extra week to To be able to do more training. “
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