Barcelona coach Xavi acknowledged he was “very p***ed off” by his side’s loss to Almeria, as the Blaugrana suffered just a second LaLiga defeat of the season.
A superb first-half finish from El Bilal Toure secured the spoils for the hosts at Power Horse Stadium, lifting them out of the relegation zone as they dealt a blow to the league leaders.
Despite the result, Barca remain clear at the summit, seven points ahead of rivals Real Madrid, who they meet in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final tie on Thursday.
But that cushion did little to stem Xavi’s ire afterwards, with the Spaniard sparring little excuse for his team’s lacklustre performance.
“[I am] very p***ed off,” he said. “We played the worst game of our season, especially in the first half. We lacked intensity and rhythm.
“We didn’t show passion to win the game. In the second half, we were better, but it was a difficult game. We are still leaders by seven points.
“We made mistakes and we apologise to the fans. It will be difficult to win LaLiga, but we have to change the chip now [for the Copa del Rey]
Xavi played down suggestions his side showed a lack of passion in their efforts however, suggesting it came down more to a tired team suffering from a recent heavy schedule.
“We noticed a bit of fatigue,” he added. “That’s why we have made rotations. That’s why we have changed players. We’ve played a lot of games.
“But a golden opportunity has been lost. We could have had 10 points [as a lead]. It has been a bad day.”
