Xavi Criticizes Barcelona Players' Attitude Following Disappointing Loss to Rayo Vallecano

On Wednesday night, FC Barcelona lost 2-1 to Rayo Vallecano, causing them to miss a valuable chance to widen their lead in the La Liga table to 14 points.

After Real Madrid's defeat to Girona on Tuesday, Barcelona had a prime opportunity to solidify their position at the top of the league standings. However, they put on a lackluster performance at Vallecas, with Rayo outshining them and claiming a well-deserved victory.

In a post-game interview with the media, Manager Xavi Hernandez expressed his frustration with the night's events, emphasizing that his team's performance was inexcusable.

"There are no excuses, we have to think about Saturday and get back to the good form we showed against Atlético,” he said. “Today we didn’t play at the level the match required, today I’m angry and the players leave angry too.”

“We are very upset because today we had a very good opportunity to go out with a bigger lead.”

The manager of Barcelona conceded that Rayo Vallecano was the rightful victor of the evening, expressing that:

 “Rayo deserved the win and we have to congratulate them.”

"The positive thing is that we are closer to winning La Liga, but we have not played a good game, we have not been comfortable. They have been intense and deserved the win.”

Xavi discussed what led to Blaugrana's defeat at Vallecas by saying:

“We abused the long pass, we had to understand Pedri dropping deep so that Balde could come up from behind… We didn’t have a good game.”

“We can’t lack intensity or rhythm, it’s very difficult to win points and it’s not normal to have the points we’ve gained so far.”

“Every game has its own circumstances, the last game against Atlético we were good and we read the game well but today we didn’t. It’s a shame, but we shouldn’t get into a negative dynamic.”

The manager was asked if Barcelona's 11-point lead over Real Madrid was making them complacent in the league, to which he responded:

“We played a bad game and there’s no excuse, I want to think that it’s because of the difficulty of the league, not because we’ve taken everything for granted.

“La Liga is not over, we haven’t won anything here yet, we have to deserve it more, we have to be more intense and win duels. Today we leave angry because it’s not the match that this level of competition demanded.”

“It’s not a matter of attitude, the proof is the points we’ve earned in the league, winning here is difficult and requires an intensity that we haven’t had, we’ve lost fair, that’s it.”