Xavi on Barcelona’s draw: If we want to grow, it has to be now

Xavi offered his thoughts on Barcelona after seeing his team let slip a 1-0 lead against Granada to draw 1-1 on Saturday.

Luuk de Jong’s goal had the visitors on course for a third win of 2022, but a red card for Gavi offered Granada hope and it duly arrived with a 90th minute equalizer.

Xavi felt Barca only had themselves to blame after the match as he analyzed where it had all gone wrong for the Catalan giants.

“It’s a shame but it’s down to our own mistakes. It’s a lack of experience. The red card weakens us, but we’ve drawn because of errors,” he said.

“We’ve dropped two hugely important points. It’s down to us, not the opposition. We lost silly balls. The second half was there to be controlled. We can’t go home happy after that. We’re angry. We must be self-critical.”

“After the goal, which is the most difficult thing, it’s the same story as against Osasuna [when Barca drew 2-2],”

“We didn’t know how to control the game. We started dropping back when we had to kill the game off. We must create more to win. We’ve made mistakes. If we want to grow, it has to be now.”

Source | ESPN

Barcelona now take a bit of break from La Liga action with the Spanish Super Cup up next, followed by a Copa del Rey last 16 date against Athletic Club at San Mames.