"I have to be very honest" - Xavi blasts 'tedious' Barcelona performance despite narrow win over Getafe

Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez has criticized his team's performance in their 1-0 win over Getafe CF over the weekend.

The Blaugrana secured all three points in a tight La Liga encounter at the Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday, January 22. Pedri Gonzalez scored the only goal of the match in the 35th minute, converting Raphinha's cross into the box from the left.

Xavi's side, however, could not get a second goal to kill the game off, leading to some nervy moments when Getafe charged forward. This prompted the Spanish tactician to criticize Barcelona's display after the game (as quoted by GOAL):

“I have to be very honest, we were not good at all,” Xavi said.

“We need to minimise our poor matches like these ones. Overall, I think that we've played more better matches than we've played poor matches like this one. 70% of our matches have been better than this. We're closer to a good Barca than a slow and tedious Barca.”

Despite dominating possession in both halves, the Catalan giants struggled to create many clear-cut chances.

They ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) figure of just 0.73, lower than Getafe's 1.08. The hosts also had just four shots on target from eight attempts, while conceding four big chances to the visitors. Luckily for them, Getafe spurned all of those chances, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen making a couple of good saves.

Barcelona ultimately came away with three points to extend their winning run to six matches across all competitions. Courtesy of that, they remained three points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga standings after 17 matches.

Los Blancos notably beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 away from home later on Sunday.

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Barcelona face stiff Real Sociedad test in next match

Xavi Hernandez will hope Barcelona bounce back from a poor display by their standards in their next match. The Blaugrana will face Real Sociedad at the Spotify Camp Nou on Wednesday, January 25, in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey.

Sociedad have enjoyed a solid season so far and are currently third in the La Liga standings with 38 points from 18 matches. They are seven clear of fourth-placed Atletico Madrid and just three behind Real Madrid in second.

La Real notably clashed with Barcelona at San Sebastian in La Liga in the early weeks of the ongoing season. Xavi's team won that match 4-1 thanks to a brace from Robert Lewandowski and goals from Ousmane Dembele and Ansu Fati.

Alexander Isak, now at Newcastle United, scored for Sociedad on that occasion.