Barcelona fell to a shock defeat to Almeria in La Liga in their most recent fixture and Xavi described it as their worst match of the season.
The Catalan outfit could have gone 10 points clear of second-placed Real Madrid in the race for the La Liga title had they won at Almeria, but Barcelona slumped to a shock defeat to the home side.
Barcelona, who came into this fixture on the back of their 2-1 defeat to Manchester United that knocked them out of the Europa League, lost the game against Almeria 1-0, with El Bilal Toure scoring the only goal of the match.
El Bilal Toure sent Almeria 1-0 ahead in the 24th minute of the match and Barcelona could not find an equalizer, let alone a winner, in the remainder of the match as they suffered a second consecutive defeat.
Xavi was disappointed with Barcelona’s performance in the 1-0 defeat to Almeria in La Liga
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Speaking after the match, Barcelona manager Xavi was understandably disappointed with their performance. He even described the match as their worst game of the season.
“This was our worst match of the season. I’m very pissed off. It was too difficult. We weren’t there. We weren’t inside the match. There are no excuses today. We didn’t deserve to win and we have to take responsibility. I’m very pissed off,” Xavi told reporters.
“We lacked passion in the first half. In the second half, we tried everything… 3-4-3, Araujo as a striker… Nothing. It wasn’t meant to be. It was not enough. If we don’t change our mental chip now, it will cost us the league title.”
Despite the defeat, Barcelona sits at the La Liga summit with a seven-point lead. They have 59 points from 23 matches in the Spanish top flight so far in the 22/23 campaign. However, they could have established a 10-point lead over Real Madrid had they defeated Almeria.
Real Madrid, who dropped points in their most recent fixture after playing out a 1-1 draw in the Madrid derby, have 52 points from 23 matches in La Liga so far this season.
Barcelona remains the favourites to win the title, but this was an opportunity missed to leave Real Madrid further behind in the race for the La Liga title.
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