Barcelona boss Xavi has criticized the surface at Deutsche Bank Park after his side settled for a 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-finals.
The Germans took the lead in the 48th minute from Ansgar Knauff’s spectacular strike, before Ferran Torres capped off a neat move with a 66th minute equalizer.
The result means Barcelona will host Eintracht at Camp Nou next week with the tie evenly poised and Xavi called for a tense home environment.
“We didn’t have the ball circulation and the state of the pitch didn’t help us,” Xavi told Movistar.
“We leave quite satisfied and Camp Nou will have to be a pressure cooker, like it was in their stadium.
“They were a very physical opponent. They got forward like hell in transitions. Normally the team that’s in control creates more, but we were not able to stop their devilish counter-attacks.
“We had already been warned they eliminated a team like Betis.”
West Ham United were reduced to 10 men but managed a 1-1 home draw with Olympique Lyon, who levelled through on-loan Spurs man Tanguy Ndombele.
Aaron Cresswell was dismissed on the stroke of half-time for a last-man tug which left manager David Moyes fuming and also booked.
“Firstly, you need to look at the foul on Jarrod in the build-up (to the red card). I hoped VAR would look at that as it is in the same phase of play,” Moyes told BT Sport.
“I’m certainly not going to comment about the referee. I will answer other questions but I am not going to bother with the referee tonight.”
Elsewhere, RB Leipzig and Atalanta drew 1-1, while Sporting Braga edged Rangers 1-0.
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