Xavi slams limp Barca
Catalans’s top-four finish in danger after shock defeat by Cadiz
BARCELONA’S place in La Liga’s top four looks much less secure after they suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at home to relegation-battling Cadiz yesterday.
Lucas Perez’s close-range finish early in the second half condemned Barca to a second consecutive defeat, on the back of their shock exit at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Friday.
Barcelona stayed second but are level on points with both Sevilla in third and Atletico Madrid in fourth while Real Betis in fifth are only three points behind. Xavi Hernandez’s team do have a game in hand over the trio below them.
But the loss means Barca have won only one of their last four matches, that victory coming via an injury-time winner against 19thplaced Levante.
Any hopes they had of making leaders Real Madrid feel uncomfortable are surely over, with Madrid 15 points clear at the top, having played a game more.
“We must be self-critical,” said Xavi. “We have to say things to each others’ faces. This is Barca and we have to be better.
“At home we have to show more hunger, more faith, more character. This was a final and we have not played it like that.”
Xavi said he was angry with the nature of the Cadiz loss and his players are “pissed off”.
“We are angry, the players first, because we missed a golden chance to separate ourselves from those in the fight for the Champions League places and also to (keep) fighting for La Liga, which we’ve practically said goodbye to now,” Xavi conceded in a news conference.
“We’re playing to be in the Champions League, that’s why I am so angry. There was a lack of desire and determination. It’s been a really bad week and we have to turn things around as soon as possible.
“The players are pissed off. I’ve tried to encourage them after the match, but we must compete better. We have to look at what we have done wrong in defence and attack.”
Cadiz climb out of the relegation zone to 16th, two points clear of the bottom three.
The defeat by Frankfurt on Friday was a particularly bitter pill to swallow, given the Catalans effectively ceded their home advantage by allowing more than 20,000 away fans into the Nou Camp.
Xavi said on Saturday Barca had felt “robbed in their own home” and one of the club’s prominent fan groups boycotted the Cadiz game in protest, with the section behind the goal at one end empty.
“We need everyone,” said Xavi. “Barca has to be more united than ever now.”