Barcelona coach Xavi has said that a lack of intensity or desire to win was the thing that concerned him most about his team’s surprise 1-0 loss to Almeria in La Liga on Sunday, suggesting that he would have been more accepting of defeat had it been a better performance.
Barça, whose European ambitions for the season ended on Thursday with defeat to Manchester United in the Europa League, were fortunate that Real Madrid also dropped points by drawing against city rivals Atletico. That only cut Barça’s lead to seven points when it could have been worse.
But Xavi was still massively concerned by what he described as the “worst game of the season, both in attack and defence, as well as in construction and intensity.”
He told SPORT: “Nothing came off for us. We were very slow. Perhaps fatigue takes its toll on us. We have had a bad game. I’m angry because it was an opportunity to get to ten points [ahead of Madrid] and we didn’t do it.
“We are upset and we have to find solutions now, because the decisive stage in La Liga and the Copa is coming and we cannot fail anymore. It was a golden opportunity, Madrid having tied and we have had the worst game at the worst moment of the season. We have to change the chip and the mentality right now.
“I’m very annoyed, it was a day to strike a blow, not a definitive one, but important one in La Liga. We have failed, we have no excuse, we have not shown intensity, desire to win, and that is what worries me the most.
“Then you can play better or worse. We can fail, but in the first half we didn’t show passion or soul. We failed, we have to apologise to the fans. Today we couldn’t play in any way, we lose a golden opportunity.”
Barcelona do not have long to lick their wounds, however, with a trip to the Santiago Bernabeu to face Real Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final scheduled for Thursday.
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