Xavi berated for justifying Barca’s performance against Girona

FC Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez has been blasted online for stating that Sunday's shock 4-2 defeat to Girona was evenly matched.

Additionally, the club legend's tactical approach - which saw him play several defenders out of position - has come under fire too.

Barca lost to their Catalan neighbors for the first time in La Liga history and fell seven points behind this season's surprise leaders in the title race as a consequence.

The hosts were unable to deal with the visitors on the break and were outplayed for considerable chunks of the match, yet Xavi refused to accept this after the full-time whistle.

"I think the match was even, it was decided by details," Xavi stated.

"We lacked effectiveness. We played well in the game," he insisted.

"Not a f*cking word of self-criticism," said one on X, who added he was "starting to get fed up" with the former midfielder in the hot seat.

"Xavi seems like he was in another movie theater. It's incredible how blind this guy is," remarked another.

Xavi also said: "It's a Barca under construction and the construction has these things. We did things well but we had a great opponent in front of us.

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For this, he was criticized by Catalan journalist Josep Capdevilla, who tweeted: "A Barca under construction, he says. Well, at the rate they are going, they will finish the Sagrada Familia (a famous Catholic Church in Barcelona on which work began in 1882) sooner than a recognizable Barca.

"No, it is not this. He just wants to buy time. [He has the] face of a child who has never broken a plate in his life," Capdevilla added.

The same figure also scratched his head at Xavi's tactical approach.

"A center back playing as a right back. A right back playing as a left back. A left back playing as a center back," he remarked.

This was because Xavi fielded right-back Joao Cancelo as a left-back and Ronald Araujo as a right-back. Furthermore, left-back Alejandro Balde then came off the bench to play as a central defender.

After earning credit for back-to-back wins against Porto and Atletico Madrid which pulled him out of his worst criticism since taking over in 2021, it appears that Xavi is set to be thrown back into the fire by the "entorno" environment that engulfs the club.