{"id":1542,"date":"2026-04-15T19:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=1542"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:44:10","slug":"we-were-much-better-gavi-addresses-champions-league-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/15\/we-were-much-better-gavi-addresses-champions-league-heartbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We were much better&#8217; &#8211; Gavi addresses Champions League heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-12.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1543\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-12.png 1000w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-12-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-12-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Barcelona midfielder Gavi insisted his side were &#8220;much better&#8221; than Atletico Madrid despite their Champions League exit, while dismissing a controversial clash with Matteo Ruggeri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following FC Barcelona&#8217;s Champions League quarter-final exit against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, midfielder Gavi asserted that his side were &#8220;much better&#8221; than their rivals, but conceded that &#8220;the ball simply has to go in&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking to &#8216;Movistar+&#8217;, he added: &#8220;The officials didn&#8217;t benefit us much, but that&#8217;s no excuse. That&#8217;s how it is, that&#8217;s football. We were much better, but ultimately, the ball needs to hit the back of the net.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gavi also addressed his elbow on Matteo Ruggeri, maintaining it &#8220;was a yellow or not even a yellow&#8221;, despite Atletico Madrid players calling for a straight red card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regarding Eric&#8217;s sending-off, he commented: &#8220;Jules Kounde was right there. The referee could have given a red or not. Ultimately, he made his decision, and that&#8217;s it.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona midfielder Gavi insisted his side were &#8220;much better&#8221; than Atletico Madrid despite their Champions League exit, while<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1544,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542\/revisions\/1544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}