Barcelona president Joan Laporta gave his full backing to coach Xavi Hernandez after their embarrassing Champions League exit on Wednesday night.
The Catalan giants crashed to a humiliating three-goal defeat at home to Bayern Munich after their elimination from the group stage had already been confirmed, even though there is still one round of matches remaining.
Goals from Sadio Mane, Erick Choupo-Moting and Benjamin Pavard condemned Barca to another demoralising loss against the German champions. It was the second successive season that Bayern had not only won by three goals at the Camp Nou but had done so without conceding a shot on target.
It had already been confirmed that Barca could not catch either Bayern – who have won all five group stage matches – and Italian side Inter, who secured four points in their two group stage games against Xavi's side, which ultimately proved decisive.
But Barca president Laporta refused to blame Xavi or the players after the game, telling Barca TV: "The result is a shame, but you cannot blame the players or the coach for anything. We have to look forward because we have La Liga and other competitions left to look ahead to.
"This is a young project in which from the beginning we knew we were going to have ups and downs. The league remains and we have to show that we continue. La Liga is very important and we are in the race. The message is to look forward. This has already happened."
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Barca midfielder Pedri was more downbeat after the match, telling Spanish TV station Movistar: "For me, it's a failure. We don't deserve to be in the Champions League, we've shown it in games. But we have many competitions to compete in and give joy to the fans who have been with us at all times."
The Blaugrana's full-back Marcos Alonso said after the encounter: "We will have to talk about that (whether or not this is a failure) at the end of the year. Now we have to put it aside; we have to work to improve. It is complicated. We did not go out to achieve this result, but that's it. After the bad experience, let's continue and fight."
Barca will now drop into the Europa League, where they will be joined by sides likes Sevilla and almost certainly, Juventus – who have also been eliminated from the Champions League. Atletico Madrid are another side who are likely to finish third in their group – having missed out on a top two slot.
