Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez has been full of praise for Sergino Dest after the right-back’s impressive showing vs Valencia.

Barca would take on Valencia at the Mestalla stadium on Sunday afternoon, knowing three points were needed to keep Atletico Madrid and Villarreal behind them in the race for 4th.

And, when all was said and done, Barcelona were able to come away with a convincing 4-1 win thanks to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hat-trick and a goal from Frenkie de Jong:


Though Aubameyang would grab the headlines on the day, Xavi was quick to praise Sergino Dest’s efforts after the match, claiming that the American is at a spectacularly good level:

“Sergino Dest is at a spectacularly good level. When we arrived here he was not doing so well, and now he is great both off the ball and on the ball.”

Elsewhere, the Barca boss was also full of praise for Pedri:

“He gives us a pause, he doesn’t lose the ball, he has to stand out, like he did today,” Xavi added.

“He is superlative, in terms of talent there is nobody else in the world like Pedri. And he’s only 19.

“We have asked him to take his shots, we demanded it. He has a good shot, he takes good free-kicks and he is very young and shy, but not just anybody has the ability that he has.”

Napoli vs Barcelona

Barcelona must now turn their attentions away from the league and instead focus on Europe.

La Blaugrana are back in Europe League action this week, facing off with Napoli in the second of two Round of 32 ties on Thursday.

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Barcelona head into the game in Naples with a slight disadvantage after they were held to a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou at the first leg.

And with away goals no longer counting for anything, Barca are somewhat up against it this week. But if Aubameyang can produce a similar display this week to the one he did in Valencia, the Spanish giants should have no issues progressing.

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