Abhijay Raj Vaish, Pune
Joao Felix, the Barcelona forward on loan from his parent club Atletico Madrid turned out to be
the only difference in their clash at the Olympic stadium as the former clinched a narrow 1-0
victory on Sunday. He scored the decider in the 28th minute allowing the Barca camp to reclaim
the third position in the La Liga table just four points off the second placed Girona.
The Portuguese forward was put under scrutiny by his former teammates including the likes of
Antoine Griezmann who said that “the forward lacked consistency to make an impact at his
former club” whereas Saul Niguez emphasized how “he could have done better things.”
Xavi Hernandez, the Catalan coach had urged him to get motivated by the comments of his
former teammates. “He made the difference and gave it his all. I’m very happy because I see
him happy and he made the difference. Sometimes, extra motivation speeds you up,” he
asserted in the post match conference.
Felix broke the deadlock and hit the Jude Bellingham celebration by lifting his arms aloft while
standing on the advertisement board which surprised the football World given that he is still
owned by the Atletico camp. He clarified the purpose behind his celebration in the post-match
conference by saying, “Not to sound arrogant but people have been talking about me all week,
but I don’t pay attention to that. I don’t care what people say, I work every day to become
better.” He further added that it was a release of what he went through last summer and did it
for his family.
The 24-year-old forward has scored two goals and assisted twice in his 12 appearances in the
La Liga having the second worst expected goals sitting just behind Robert Lewandowski.
However, Barcelona are happy to be back on winning ways and would definitely try to sign him
permanently if they can get their financial situation sorted. Xavi said that the question of whether
the forward can stay beyond this season should be addressed to the sporting direction. He had
earlier renewed his Atletico contract till 2029 just before departing on loan to the Premier league
representing Chelsea where he failed to impress deeming Barcelona to be his most desirable
destination in the future.