Xavi has admitted that Barcelona have made too many mistakes in the Champions League, and not just in the draw against Inter at the Camp Nou.
The coach acknowledged that things are already very difficult and complicated regarding the Champions League and is now focused on turning the page as soon as possible.
Regardless of Barcelona‘s ressult against Bayern Munich in the next Champions League matchday, Inter will go through at the expense of the Blaugrana should they beat Viktoria Plzen.
“This Champions League is being cruel to us,” Xavi told the press after the game against Inter.
“We gave away a lot in the second half. The first half was excellent.
“Their first goal was a clear mistake by the defensive line, the second one too.
“The first goal’s mistake made us mentally fall apart, the second goal can’t happen at the elite level.
“It’s been cruel since Munich, then Milan and today as well.
“But it’s about winning, not conceding and defending well, not just attacking.
“[Qualification to the knockout round] is not up to us. The situation is very difficult.
“If you cannot beat Inter at home, you don’t deserve to stay in the competition, even though we have a slim chance.
“We have a little hope, but it’s difficult.”
Xavi again focused on the errors in the game against Inter, which ultimately cost his team, but also mistakes made in previous games, as they made Barcelona‘s situation all the harder.
“Football is a game of mistakes and you always have to minimise them,” Xavi went on.
“We didn’t defend well. The intensity was excellent in the first half, but we didn’t keep it up.
“Mistakes are costly in the Champions League. Mistakes in defence cost us the game.
“We gave it our all, but these mistakes are costly. You can’t afford to be forgiving.
“In Munich it was efficiency, in Milan there were other circumstances and today there were defensive errors.”
El Clasico with Real Madrid
Next up for Barcelona is a trip to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu to face Real Madrid in LaLiga.
“[The draw with Inter] is a very hard blow, it was cruel,” Xavi said.
“Now we have to think about Real Madrid, and the Clasico. We need to recover tomorrow and try to beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Sunday.
“There are other competitions left, we have to put the Champions League to one side and focus on LaLiga, where we want to stay at the top.”
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