Nothing Went According To Plan Vs Shakhtar Donetsk – Xavi

Barcelona manager, Xavi has come out to blast his players after his team’s shock defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, the UCL demands the highest level from every player, and Barcelona simply did not show that vs Shakhtar Donetsk away from home.

Xavi added that the team must recover and improve because nothing went according to plan yesternight.

His words, “The Champions League demands the highest level and today we have not shown it, we are leaving angry. Intensity? No, today I would blame it on the game, we have not interpreted it correctly. We have to recover and improve. Nothing has gone as planned. It’s a clear step backwards. We have played one of the worst games in these two years… And at the most inopportune moment.

We have to do a reset, we don’t feel comfortable. We are in a bad moment. It’s a mental issue. We are blocked, we do things wrong in general. We don’t apply pressure well and that takes its toll on us. We have to control the details of the game and make the players feel good on the pitch. We have to take a step forward.

I’m not worried about the Porto game because we continue to depend on ourselves to qualify and I’m not thinking about anything else. At the moment the main thing is to recover for the game against Alaves. My job is for the players to regain confidence and dynamism. We have played very good games this season, now we are in a low moment and we have to recover the previous sensations.”