Barcelona coach Xavi defends players after Antwerp shock: We’re qualified

Barcelona coach Xavi admits they’re in a form slump after their 3-2 Champions League defeat at Antwerp.

Barca had already qualified for the round of 16 going into the game.

Xavi said: “I’m preoccupied, of course. That’s normal. The team is uncomfortable right now. We’re on a bad run – two negative results [in a row].

“We can be self-critical. It’s time to improve. Our rivals make chances and threaten, we have to do more of that ourselves – it’s costing us.

“We have achieved our objective by winning the group, we won away to our toughest rivals, Porto, but we need to recuperate the good sensations we had earlier in the group. We need to break this dynamic.

“We are in the draw on Monday as group winners. It’ll be interesting to see who we draw but it’s time to look at ourselves as much who we’ll play the next round.

“It was a difficult and tough match. They played aggressively and were good defensively. We didn’t play that well. We were not comfortable. But the first goal was to be in the Round of 16 and there we are. We look forward to the draw.”

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