FC Barcelona have finished first in Group H of the Champions League, but that was despite a below-par performance in Antwerp in the final game. Xavi Hernández is fully aware that tonight’s result, a 3-2 defeat, makes no difference to the bigger picture, but still insists that he and his players need to take a self-critical view of tonight’s display.
“Looking on the bright side, we achieved what we set out to do and finished top of our group ” he said after the final whistle. “But we evidently don’t feel good about tonight. We need to play a lot better than that if we are going to achieve big things. We got off to a bad start. Antwerp played really well and created a lot of counter attacks that we simply couldn’t stop. They played well, very well, and we never felt comfortable.”
“But there are a lot of months left and we are still playing for four different trophies. I’m positive, ready and hopeful. We need to get the right feelings back, but the targets haven’t changed. They are the same as ever.”
“We are sure that from Saturday we’ll start getting good results again. I have every faith in this team. We are through to the last sixteen of the Champions League and we should remember where we are coming from and where we are now. We need to be self-critical and to get the feeling back, but we are still alive on all fronts.”
