Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez believes his team deserved to win against Real Sociedad and criticised an “unacceptable” performance on Saturday.
The Blaugrana eventually picked up a much-needed three points at Anoeta, but appeared to be on course for a deadlock that would have left La Liga leaders Girona with six for most.
However, in stoppage time, defender Ronald Araujo raced into the box and went home with a better cross from Ilkay Gundogan over La Real’s byline, which was enough to borrow a 1-0 win.
In a post-match interview, Xavi said he had gotten rid of “the anger we had from the Clasico”.
At the Montjuic Stadium last weekend, Barca were considered the bigger team for an hour against Real Madrid before a brace from Jude Bellingham cancelled out Gundogan’s opening goal and doomed the Catalans to their first defeat of the season.
“Today it’s the opposite. We got a very vital win,” Xavi said, before adding that his team had not played well.
“Today we have to be self-critical. We don’t deserve to win,” he said.
Then, in his press conference, Xavi said that Saturday’s behaviour “is an example of just the opposite of what we want to do on the pitch”.
“At the same time, winning without deserving to win is for champions. “
Looking for explanations for the weakness, Xavi said that “it turns out that the Clasico has affected us more than I thought”.
“The first 25 minutes of this game are absolutely unacceptable,” he said. “We didn’t play with intensity in the first half. I’m very frustrated. This is not the way to go. “
Playing with a lack of intensity that he repeated “completely unacceptable”, Xavi revealed that he asked his players if they were tired at half-time.
Whatever the reason for the performance, Barca still lacked winners to keep the pressure on Girona and Real Madrid, who will face Rayo Vallecano on Sunday night.
While players will be guaranteed to receive education through their coach if they haven’t already, Barca will now have to prepare for a Champions League fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk in Hamburg on Tuesday.