Xavi has bemoaned the state of the grass at Getafe after Barcelona were held to a goalless draw on Sunday.
The LaLiga leader's stalemate at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez means Real Madrid have closed the gap in the Spanish title race with the Catalan boss deflecting attention away from his team's performance. Getafe are sat in 15th with survival not yet secured, but their point against Barcelona was a major plus.
Xavi's side do hold a healthy lead at the top of LaLiga, but were unable to respond to Real's win over Cadiz on Saturday. It means their gap is down to 11 points with nine games remaining as Barcelona attempt to wrestle back the title from their arch rivals.
The Catalan's boss said after their draw at Getafe: "The state of the grass has affected us. Yesterday we trained with a dry field. I have been criticized a lot about the issue of this surface. It is very difficult to play like this."
His comments have been used by other managers over the past 12 months. Jurgen Klopp earlier this season bemoaned the playing surface at Craven Cottage on the opening day of the Premier League season as Liverpool were held to a draw by newly promoted Fulham.
The German said: "We got a point from a really bad game from my side so now it’s a question of 'How can that happen?' The attitude was not right in the beginning and then we wanted to fight back but it wasn’t easy any more. The pitch was dry, stuff like this, we played really in their cards most of the time. The result is fine, I don’t think we deserved more than that but the performance was massively improvable."
Towards the end of last season Thomas Tuchel also used the same trick after seeing his Chelsea side lose 4-2 to Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. He said: "To say the pitch is difficult to play here it maybe sounds like an excuse, but it is a very, very difficult pitch that we have here. It's not in our favour. The ball bounces very awkwardly in front of Andreas when he wants to play this ball."
Barcelona's hopes of winning a first LaLiga title in four years go alongside their desire to keep youngster Gavi, who is among Europe's brightest prospects. Financial issues could prevent the Calatans handing him a new deal, leaving him free to explore other options.
Xavi though has said: " I don’t think Gavi would be happy at another club. He has everything here. He is 18 years old. He’s a key player of our team. For me, he’s a footballer that is outstanding. I don’t know what he’ll decide but I think his future is here at the club."
