Despite having a goal early on thanks to Marcos Alonso, Barcelona eventually let Espanyol come upstream and could only end the match with only 1 point in hand. Coach Xavi Hernandez affirmed that the reason why the Blaugrana lost points came from the fact that the players did not make good use of the opportunities to finish the opponent.
Speaking in the press conference after the game, the Spaniard shared (quoted by Barca Universal):

Xavi is not satisfied with 1 point.
“The result was our fault. We can talk about the referee, but it’s our fault, these are games you have to win.”
“It is important to end the year with a positive result. It is true that we are still leading the league – along with Real Madrid, but we have lost two points because of our error.”
“We created chances until the 30th minute, when the team reduces speed and intensity. Looking at the game, we should have won, Espanyol defended well but they created almost nothing. We had clear chances to make it 2-0.”
Huynh Phong | 02:23 01/01/2023