Xavi is happy to shoulder the blame for Barcelona’s Clasico defeat to Real Madrid, with the Blaugrana boss admitting his side must “improve a lot”.
- Blaugrana came unstuck at the Bernabeu
- First domestic loss of the season
- Struggled for attacking spark vs Blancos
WHAT HAPPENED? The Catalan giants found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline at Santiago Bernabeu in their latest La Liga outing, with a late goal from Ferran Torres counting for little in the grand scheme of things. Karim Benzema, Fede Valverde and Rodrygo did the damage for Real, leaving Xavi to reflect on what he needs to do in order to change Barca’s fortunes.
WHAT THEY SAID: Xavi told reporters when asked for his assessment of a Clasico loss and what needs to be done at Camp Nou: “The feeling is that we are in a negative dynamic. We tried. We have faith, self-esteem. We tried. Luckily, it’s only three points. It was an opportunity to keep up with the leaders and we leave empty-handed. We have to change the dynamic. We were doing very well in La Liga. We’re still under construction, but we have to improve a lot.
“I’m worried that we didn’t attack well, that we didn’t take advantage of our moments. It wasn’t a good day. We’re in a bad dynamic and we have to change it now. We have to be more mature and compete much better. We have to learn the hard way. At this level, everything is even. We have to play much better. I won’t blame the players. I’m responsible. I’ll explain what happened. It’s my mistake, specific errors. We have to change the dynamic, this is a long season.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Barca did see more of the ball against Real, enjoying 57 per cent possession, and also fired in 18 shots to compared to the Blancos’ eight, but were unable to find an attacking spark and now sit three points adrift of their fiercest rivals in the Liga table.
WHAT NEXT FOR BARCELONA? Xavi’s side have two home games to come this week – one against Villarreal on Thursday, before then playing host to Athletic Club on Sunday.
Source: Goal