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What's the story?
Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez has explained what the Catalan giants must do to win the Champions League. The former Blaugrana midfielder believes Barcelona must dominate games to taste European success once again.
In case you didn't know...
Barcelona once again failed in the Champions League in remarkable fashion as they couldn't to hold on to a three-goal lead for the second season running. Liverpool inflicted a 4-3 aggregate defeat to the Catalan side to knock them out of the semi-finals. Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League in a similar manner last season against Roma, albeit in the quarter-final stage.
Barcelona last won the Champions League in 2015 and have failed in their quest to lift the trophy since then. The Catalan giants have won five Champions League in their rich history. On the other hand, their arch-rivals Real Madrid have won the competitions three times in a row and four times in the last five seasons.
Xavi needs no introduction. The Spaniard remains one of the greatest midfielders of all time and helped Barcelona win the Champions League four times in his glittering career, including their success in 2015.
The heart of the matter
Xavi has claimed that Barcelona must stick to their philosophy and dominate games like they used to do before to win the Champions League.
In an interview, the Blaugrana legend said:
"I think Barcelona have to dominate games again, otherwise it is impossible to win the Champions League.
"That's what history tells us as Barcelona first won the Champions League when they were winning La Liga [Santander] and dominating matches. I think that now we aren't dominating [games] much."
Xavi also ruled out returning to Barcelona as a coach before proving himself elsewhere.
"I don't see myself [coaching Barcelona] yet as I can't start my career as a coach of Barcelona's first team, it's not normal."
"I must prove myself as a coach and start from scratch. It would be too quick to go back to Barcelona, or to coach a La Liga team.
"It's obviously my objective to enjoy myself at Barcelona, but I have to be very prepared and it's not the time yet."
What's next?
Barcelona will face Eibar in their final La Liga fixture on Sunday before taking on Valencia in the Copa Del Rey final six days later.
