PORTO, PORTUGAL (AFP) – Ferran Torres’s strike earned Barcelona a tense 1-0 win at Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday, which coach Xavi Hernandez said “got rid of ghosts” the club had from previous years.
Barcelona have been eliminated in the opening stage in the past two editions but this hard-fought triumph on the road puts them in a strong position as Group ‘H’ leaders to avoid a third consecutive strike-out.
Xavi said the trip to the north of Portugal would be the hardest group game and his team had to dig deep, surviving a penalty which was cancelled after a VAR review and an offside goal in the gripping final stages.
Barca midfielder Gavi was sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card as the Catalans clung on desperately to secure victory.
“We lacked a lot of calm, a lot of patience (but) this is Europe, it’s Porto, it’s away from home, everything is hard, very hard,” Xavi told reporters, after his 100th game as Barca coach.
“If we talk about negatives there are a lot, but if we talk about positives there are a lot too.
“We came from having ‘ghosts’, but now we’ve got rid of them. We were able to win away from home against a historic team.”
Five-time champions Barcelona last won the competition in 2015, with the years since littered with struggle and failure on the continent.
“We had been talking about it, this match was worth half of the qualification,” Torres told Movistar.
“It was a win that we had to get however we can, and we showed that we are good with the ball but we know how to suffer without it too.
“Football is about taking advantage of opposition mistakes – they put us under a lot of high pressure. The important thing in the end is the three points.”
