It was a very difficult evening to swallow for Barcelona as they lost to Shakhtar Donetsk. A win would have guaranteed their place in the Champions League knockout stages, but in the end, it didn’t happen.
In fact, it was a terrible performance by Barcelona. The home team at Camp Nou was unable to cause difficulties for Shakhtar’s defense. They only had one shot on target in the whole match, which was Gavi’s header in the second half.
Xavi is not satisfied with his students.
It’s understandable why head coach Xavi Hernandez was so angry: “Nothing went as planned. It’s a clear step backwards. We played one of the worst matches in the last two years and at the most inopportune time.
We are in a bad time. It’s a mental issue. We were stopped. In general we did the wrong things. We didn’t press well and that hurt us.
We have to control the details of the match and make the players feel comfortable on the field. It is necessary to forget failure and take a step forward.”
Tieu Lam | 03:55 November 8, 2023
