Barcelona needed to beat Bayern Munich to advance to the Champions League playoffs. Instead, she lost three goals to him again. And it really made the new coach Xavi angry.
“We always want to be on the ball, but now it was just the opposite. Bayern simply dominated,” Xavi told a news conference after the match, which ended in a 3-0 victory for the Munich team.
“That’s the reality and I’m upset about it. Even ours,” added the former four-time Champions League champion.
Barcelona, which have only seven points in the basic group for two wins over Dynamo Kyiv and a draw with Benfica, will not play the elimination part of the Champions League after twenty years. Instead, he is heading as the third team in the group to the European League.
“We belong to the Champions League, not the European League. But the fact is that we are playing in the European League, so we have to try to win it,” Xavi said.
Barcelona, which last won the Champions League in 2015, has been in trouble lately.
In the summer, the long-time leader Lionel Messi left the club, in November, after a series of lousy performances and results, coach Ronald Koeman was ordered. However, the arrival of the former Xavi icon has not dramatically improved the situation.
Barcelona has won only five matches under the leadership of a 41-year-old Spaniard, ranks seventh in the league and has not won either of the two matches in the Champions League.
According to German veteran Thomas Müller, who started Wednesday’s defeat of the Catalans in Munich, the main problem for Barcelona today is that it cannot play at a high pace.
“Barca has footballers who play technically and tactically, but they can’t match the pace at which football is played at the highest level. They can’t handle the intensity,” says Müller, 32.
And at least at this point, Xavi also agrees. “We need to get more out of our players. This has to be a turning point, we have to face it, work on dynamics and many other things,” Xavi promises.
Barcelona will have four more matches until the end of this year, the nearest one will play on Sunday in Pamplona. She will have a longer break in which she could work on the tactics and performance of her charges, but she will not have it until the end of January.
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