Player Reactions: Winning La Liga

After yesterday’s uninspired victory over Atlético Madrid, several FC Barcelona players spoke to the press about the much larger victory of regaining the Liga championship.
While some critics have tried to downplay Barça’s league triumph as merely an afterthought papering over their more mediocre showings in both the Champions League and Copa del Rey, the ever outspoken Dani Alves defended the importance of the team’s success in the league: “If it were so easy to win La Liga, we wouldn’t have lost it last year.” Fellow defender and equally vocal player Gerard Piqué echoed the Brazilian’s sentiments: “We’ve had an exceptional league campaign; 10 out of 10. The season, which was nearly perfect for us, saw us get very close to the Cup and Champions League finals. The team put in a brutal effort to get there.” While “nearly perfect” may seem overly optimistic, Piqué emphasized the importance of celebration to ease the burden of what has been an incredibly taxing year for players, staff, and fans alike, saying, “I’m eager to celebrate this title. It’s been a difficult year, and now we have to celebrate … we need to enjoy this.”

Alexis Sánchez and Cesc Fàbregas, two players who have had a particularly difficult time both on the field and with criticism from fans and media, were both particularly proud to celebrate their first Liga title. Alexis, goalscorer and Man of the Match against Atlètico, showed an important balance of self-criticism and pride in his comments: “I finished strong[ly]. The most important thing is how things end, not how they start. Now our objective is to win the games we have left this season.” Cesc was equally mature in his celebrations of his first major club trophy: “I’m very proud, it’s a dream for me … I’ve participated a lot in La Liga and that pleases me, I’ve played a lot of matches. I have to improve, I need to be self-critical once the season ends, but I’m young and I can do it.” Despite being vilified by portions of the Barcelona fanbase, these two players have perhaps represented the team better than anyone in the latter half of this season; they have persevered through enormous obstacles and critical losses of confidence to succeed, and they deserve unreserved celebrations. But also like the team, they will need to take a long self-critical look at themselves this summer and work hard to improve by next fall.