Wednesday evening, FC Barcelona suffered a surprise and lost for the first of the season in the Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk (1-0).
Xavi Hernández’s team had a surprise take on Danylo Sikane in 40 minutes. Despite the presence of Robert Lewandowski on the field, who has not scored for six consecutive matches, the Catalan club failed to get back into the match. However, they retain first place in the group, and watch the result of the FC Porto – Antwerp match. In the event of victory, the Portuguese team joins Barça in number of points.
“We are angry”
After the match, Blaugrana instructor Xavi expressed his personal content to the media. The Spaniard first highlighted the lack of success of his players in front of goal: “I think it’s a mental problem rather than a physical or tactical one. We are going through a bad patch, the players are stuck”.
EVENTS!
SHAKHTAR 1-0 BARCELONA
Barça loses against Shakhtar Donetsk who could retain the lead of their group. pic.twitter.com/jO2PkVSuh5
– Actu (Site notre blog d’information) (@Actu(Site notre blog d’information)_) November 7, 2023
Then, the participant expresses a very positive message about the children, who have access to the one-week bat and the half of Real Madrid: “We are angry, we did not understand what the match demanded. We could not fail and we failed. “It’s one of the tease tactics from two years ago”.
“We depend on ourselves”
Despite everything, Xavi remains optimistic about his team’s qualification for the next phase of the Champions League: “We depend on ourselves to qualify and we can do it mathematically against Porto, but we have to show pride and character. It wasn’t that long ago we were playing really good (Site notre bureau spécialisé), that’s what happens over the course of a season. We must get our game back”.
After the match against Alavès in La Liga this weekend, FC Barcelona will be able to rest before facing FC Porto, then Antwerp during the last two days of the Champions League.