Xavi spoke about the lack of intensity, missing the opportunity to extend the lead, Rayo Vallecano’s performance, La Liga title race, the mentality of his squad, and the upcoming game against Real Betis in his post-match press conference after the 2-1 loss against Rayo Vallecano.
Xavi on the defeat against Rayo Vallecano:
“Rayo deserved the win and we have to congratulate them. The positive thing is that we are closer to winning La Liga, but we have not played a good game, we have not been comfortable. They have been intense and deserved the win.”
Xavi on missing the opportunity to extend the lead:
“We are very upset because today. It’s sad because today we could have taken a very important step forward, fortunately, we have an important advantage.”
Xavi on his team’s performance against Rayo:
“Every game has its own circumstances, in the last game against Atlético we were good and we read the game well but today we didn’t. It’s a shame, but we shouldn’t get into a negative dynamic.”
Xavi on the failure against Rayo:
“We abused the long pass, we had to understand Pedri dropping deep so that Balde could come up from behind. We didn’t have a good game. We can not lack intensity or rhythm, it’s very difficult to win points and it’s not normal to have the points we’ve gained so far.”
Xavi on Barca not playing well:
“We played a bad game and there’s no excuse, I want to think that it’s because of the difficulty of the league, not because we’ve taken everything for granted.”
Xavi on La Liga title race:
“The advantage we have is important but it can’t be an excuse, we have done our homework well so far but we still have seven games left, now we have two at home that should help us to get six points and recover the competitive rhythm we had against Atlético.”
Xavi on winning La Liga:
“Today we leave angry because it’s not the match that this level of competition demanded. What I want is to win La Liga. I’m angry as a coach that today we didn’t compete as the game deserved, but it’s hard to win, many teams have lost here.”
Xavi on the mentality of his squad:
“It’s not a matter of attitude, the proof is the points we’ve earned in the league, winning here is difficult and requires an intensity that we haven’t had, we’ve lost fair, that’s it. La Liga is not over, we haven’t won anything here yet, we have to deserve it more, we have to be more intense and win duels.”
Xavi on Barca’s upcoming game against Real Betis:
“Today we didn’t play at the level the match required, today I’m angry and the players leave angry too. There are no excuses, we have to think about Saturday and get back to the good form we showed against Atlético.”
