‘It’s been mad!’ - Balde discusses his breakthrough season
The left-back has starred for the champions
Alejandro Balde has opened up on his breakthrough season at Barcelona after playing a key role for Xavi’s title-winners.
The 19-year-old fought off competition from Jordi Alba and Marcos Alonso to become Xavi’s first choice at left-back and admits it’s been a whirlwind campaign for him.
“I am only 19 and it has all happened so fast. I didn’t know how things were going to turn out at the start of the season, but I worked hard and got opportunities and have ended up playing a lot of football,” he said.
“A lot has happened. It all happens so fast in this sport and I had very little time for it all to sink in. Now the season is over I can start analysing things and it’s been mad.”
Barcelona won La Liga with games to spare, ensuring a title in his first full season in charge for Xavi. Balde is already looking ahead to the new campaign and a European push.
“Next season we have to go full-on for the Champions League. We’ve gone out in the group stage in the last two years, but we have the team to do much better than that,” he added.
“People talk a lot about attack in football, but defence should be considered too. If you don’t let goals in, you always have a better chance of winning. To be quite honest, we never took much notice of the records. We just tried to win every game and part of that is about not letting goals in.”
Source | FC Barcelona
Balde’s season ended with the youngster being carried off after sustaining an ankle injury that will rule him out for almost two months. However, the teenager says he’s “feeling better every day” and focused on getting fit for the start of the new campaign.
Source: barcablaugranes.com
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