Xavi Hernandez has been left furious by a disastrous few days for Barcelona, which brought back-to-back defeats at the Camp Nou.
Last week, the club's European hopes were ended for the campaign as they crashed to defeat at home to Eintracht Frankfurt. While two injury time goals in that match took the edge off a terrible defeat, it ended their Europa League ambitions against a side who are languishing in the midtable of the Bundesliga.
It went from bad to worse three days later as Barca slipped to a home defeat against relegation-threatened Cadiz in La Liga. An early second half strike goal from former Arsenal and West Ham striker Lucas Perez was enough to condemn a limp Blaugrana to a concerning result.
That may have been their first La Liga defeat in four months but it effectively ended the club’s remote title hopes and also puts their place of a top four finish in jeopardy – although this is still likely to be secured. It was successive poor defeats that ensure the club are now destined to finish the campaign without any silverware.
A furious Xavi conceded after the match on Monday: "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 LaLiga, which we've practically said goodbye to now.
"I am annoyed and we have to be self-critical, myself first, as the coach. 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. On Thursday we have another final against Real Sociedad."
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Xavi did strike a more upbeat note later in the press conference, by underlining the progress that has been made at the Camp Nou since his appointment in March. "We're not in a bad situation," the coach added. "Things have improved since we took over in November, but we have to keep improving. We have to look ourselves in the eye and have more desire because we cannot lose at home to Cadiz. This is Barca and we have to do more. We have improved, but we wanted to do more and fight for trophies."
Barca are second in the standings, above Sevilla and Atletico Madrid on head-to-head records only, while Real Betis are three points further back. The Blaugrana have played one game fewer than those three sides.
