'The truth is that I had some bad moments there' - Vitor Roque opens up on Barcelona struggles

Vitor Roque has opened up on his brief six-month spell at Barcelona before joining Real Betis on a season-long loan this summer, claiming that he faced a lot of hardships and wasn't particularly happy with the way he was being managed by Xavi, the former Barca coach.

In July 2023, Barcelona announced that they had completed the signing of Roque from Athletico Paranaense. The Brazilian youngster would spend the rest of the season with Athletico Paranaense before joining the Catalans in January 2024, following the completion of the Brazilian football season.

He managed to scored just two goals in 16 appearances as Barcelona lost the league to Real Madrid and crashed out of both Copa del Rey and the Champions League. Roque completed just 353 minutes of football, which consisted of just two starts. Touted to be the successor to Robert Lewandowski, Roque became an afterthought under Xavi and was eventually loaned out to Betis with an option to buy or to extend the loan for another 12 months.

The 19-year-old has found his home at the Benito Villamarin and has become vital to Manuel Pellegrini, having found the back of the net five times in 14 games in all competitions. As good as his time has been at the Andalusian outfit, Roque revealed it was quite the opposite at Camp Nou.

Speaking in an interview on Real Betis' official channel (h/t SPORT), Roque said: "When I arrived [at Barcelona] I had few opportunities, I didn't have time to adapt either. The truth is that I had some bad times there, but they serve as a learning experience, you know? I'm very happy to be here. The things I've learned there help me today and I'm very happy."

Roque wasn't a part of the Brazil squad that took on Venezuela and Uruguay in the ongoing international break, but he'll hope to win over the Selecao leadership when he returns to Real Betis colours in a LaLiga match away at Valencia on Saturday, November 23.