4th December, 2021
Xavi Hernandez suffered his first defeat as Barcelona manager on Saturday as Real Betis snatch a 1-0 victory at Camp Nou.
The Catalan side pushed forward and attempted to break down Betis’ defense from either dead balls or cutbacks in the box, but they failed to find the back of the net and were punished by the visitors as an in-form Juanmi netted on the counter to put his team ahead.
Speaking after the game, Xavi admitted that Barcelona need to work hard.
He said: “We have to dominate these games more and be more like the team we were in the second half. It is a shame not to take a single point, we deserved it.”
“We need to work hard to stop the negatives we experience, avoiding losses and making fouls.”
“When the team was at its best, the goal against us came. We had worked on the transitions. Today is too harsh of a punishment. We cannot concede the goal we did, we have to be smarter and stop the play.”
“This is Barça and here there are constantly finals. It worries me because we don’t like to lose. There are times when you win without deserving it and today it was the other way around.”