João Félix relishing recent begin at Barcelona after first objective

João Félix says he’s loving life at Barcelona after scoring on his full debut in Saturday’s spectacular 5-0 win over Actual Betis in Laiga.

Félix, who joined Barça on a season-long mortgage from Atletico Madrid this month, scored the first goal on the Olympic Stadium after which dummied an Andreas Christensen go to help create Robert Lewandowski‘s goal.

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Ferran Torres, Raphinha and João Cancelo had been moreover on track as Barça shortly moved prime of LaLiga ahead of Actual Madrid‘s recreation in the direction of Actual Sociedad on Sunday.

“I’m very fully happy to be starting video video games as soon as extra, the feelings are very good — it’s straightforward to play on this workforce,” talked about Félix, who spent the second half of ultimate season on mortgage at Chelsea.

“While you’ve gotten building and movement into the ball shortly, areas appear and so do targets. I’m fully happy, the change has completed me good, me and my family, I’m very fully happy proper right here.”

Félix, 23, has been backed to flourish at Barça after 4 up-and-down seasons at Atletico following his €126 million switch from Portuguese facet Benfica in 2019.

Native media have instructed Barça’s mannequin will swimsuit him larger, although coach Xavi Hernandez didn’t want to be drawn into making comparisons with Atletico, saying he has “a complete lot of respect” for his or her coach Diego Simeone.

Nonetheless, Xavi poured reward on Barça’s two latest signings, with Cancelo, who has joined on mortgage from Manchester Metropolis, moreover impressing on his full debut in the direction of Betis.

“Every Joaos are literally fully happy proper right here and you may even see that,” Xavi talked about in a data conference. “No one doubts their specific particular person prime quality. You see them put together and likewise you see how good they’re.

“Cancelo joins us after working with, for me, among the finest coach on the planet [Pep Guardiola] and he interprets the game so correctly. He understands what we wish.

“We labored on the positioning of the full-backs this week. We would have liked to seek for Cancelo inside the heart and for [Alejandro] Balde to stretch the pitch. We appeared for that superiority in midfield. If we’re additional positional, we’ll assault larger.

“Every Cancelo and Félix provide decisions that help improve the workforce. Bodily, they’re sturdy. They enhance the usual inside the squad. They’re the place they want to be [at Barça].”

Torres scored the third goal, ending a run of over two years since Barça ultimate scored from a direct free-kick, relationship once more to Lionel Messi‘s effort in the direction of Valencia in May 2021.

It was Torres’ fifth goal for membership and nation in as many video video games this season and comes on the once more of a summer season season when he doubled down on his workload and nicknamed himself the ‘shark.’

“Ferran deserves the entire credit score rating,” Xavi added. “He suggested me very clearly within the summertime he wanted to stay and that in his head he solely wanted to succeed at Barça.

“He’s solely 23, he nonetheless has a complete lot of room to boost and ambition. Hardly anyone believed in him and he has confirmed spectacular psychological power. I’m delighted for him.

“He’s an efficient little one. He always gives 100% no matter how quite a bit he performs. He has acquired a complete lot of criticism at Barça and he has confirmed unimaginable psychological power to flip the state of affairs on its head.”

Torres didn’t discover out about Barça’s free-kick drought.

“I didn’t know we hadn’t scored a free-kick since Messi,” he suggested reporters. “It could have been anyone, nonetheless I’m delighted it was me. I was actually attempting to place it beneath the bar, nonetheless when points are going correctly, all of the items seems to return again off.

“I’ve a complete lot of self-confidence in the meanwhile. I’m working onerous and I’ll maintain doing so. [Lewandowski] will want the next free-kick as soon as extra, nonetheless these decisions are made in-game, so we’ll see.”