Xavi not happy with Barcelona’s defense against Viktoria Plzen

Barcelona coach Xavi admitted he wasn’t too impressed with his team’s defending during Tuesday’s 4-2 win over Viktoria Plzen.

The Czech side scored twice, hit the crossbar, and also forced goalkeeper Inaki Pena into some good saves during the 90 minutes.

Xavi fielded a backline of Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique, Marcos Alonso, and Hector Bellerin and admitted his side gave up too many chances.

“In the first half, we were good, but we suffered a lot. We made unnecessary fouls. They are very intense. They created more chances than usual,” he said.

“They defended well, they played with direct balls. We suffered from corners and in the fouls. We knew they were a difficult opponent. It was a long-suffering game.

“I liked the team in attack, we went into space. But I didn’t like that we conceded a lot in defence, we weren’t good.”

The Barcelona boss also offered an update on Franck Kessie and Pablo Torre after seeing both players depart in the second half.

“Kessié’s problem looks bad and he’s very unhappy that it feels like a hamstring problem. Until the point that he pulled up he’d played well. Particularly in winning things aerially and in how he helped us play out,” he added.

“Young Pablo played well. For him and the attacking midfielders it was a difficult match they had to attack spaces and that’s not his primary strength. He’s got other notably qualities but he fully understood what the match required, scored our fourth and then went off but we feel it’s going to be muscle-cramp and not more.”

Barca now head home to prepare for Saturday’s La Liga match against Almeria.