The midfielder is pleased with Villa’s return “because he suffered a lot during his recovery,” but he considers that “he’s with us now and he’s doing well, he scored tonight”
Barça’s second captain highlights the importance of winning tonight’s three points and he notes that the Barça players need to “keep their hope and excitement intact”
Alves: “Es importante para los rivales saber que nosotros estamos aquí. Queremos mejorar y hacer las cosas bien”
Monday, training session and match
The first team will train tomorrow morning at 9.30. The session will include Barça’s starting eleven players against Real Sociedad plus Pinto, Adriano, Iniesta, Alexis and Piqué. At 22.00, Barça will face Sampdoria for the 47th edition of the Joan Gamper Estrella Damm Trophy.
“We started La Liga off on the right foot,” said Xavi Hernández after Barça beat Real Sociedad in the opening game of the competition (5-1). “We set a good pace,” said the Azulgrana midfielder, who considers that even though there’s a new manager that “the philosophy is the same.” Xavi went on to say that the players needs to “keep their excitement and hope intact and, this year, we’ll try and achieve the objectives we had last year.”
The three points won in the first match of La Liga are “very important,” said Xavi. On the match, the second captain said that the team “played at a good pace,” but he believes that the best piece of news, without a doubt, is “Villa’s return,” who “is doing well now that he’s with us and he scored a goal.”
Here are the statements made by some of the Barça players after the match:
Pedro:
“I’m content because we won and because I scored a goal. I helped the team.”
“I feel great. The team is slowly starting to play at a high level and, in general, we’re playing really well.”
“It’s great to start out the season in this fashion, playing with our philosophy. I’m happy that we won and for how the we played the match.”
“It’s a good result, but we have a lot of games in front of us. This just started and we did our job, we started the Liga off on the right foot.”
“Villa’s return is the best piece of news of the game. He scored a goal and it’s an absolute joy to have him with us.”
Alves:
“We played really well. We were playing against a very well organised team. We were on target, however, and we reacted correctly to their goal.”
“It’s important for our rivals to know that we are here. We want to improve and play good football.”
Tello:
“What’s truly important for me is to play with the best players in the world.”
Mascherano (on Twitter):
“Great start to the season. We have to continue playing like this!”
Piqué (on Twitter):
“It’s always important to start the Liga off with a victory! I’m really happy for the three first points of the season!”
Puyol (on Twitter):
“I’m really happy that we won and that El Guaje scored!”