Barcelona scripted a roaring comeback in their last La Liga game against Alaves on Sunday. Despite securing a full three points, the team’s coach Xavi seemed not quite impressed with the team’s performance. 

During the post-match press conference, Xavi lashed out at the Barcelona defence for conceding early goals on multiple occasions this season.

The defending La Liga champions conceded early against Alaves after only 18 seconds from kick-off at the Estadi Olíimpic Lluis Companys. However, this was not the fastest goal that Barcelona have conceded this season. Earlier, Granada winger Bryan Zaragoza had broken the deadlock against Barcelona in just 17 seconds.

Despite picking up a 2-1 victory over Alaves, Barcelona sis siting on the third in the La Liga table. They currently have 30 points in 11 matches, while table-topper Girona have 34 and second-placed Real Madrid have 32. 

Xavi reckons a series of underwhelming performances from the defenders is mostly responsible for Barcelona having fewer points this season. “We are giving away ridiculous and unacceptable goals this season. That did not happen last season. It’s the reason why we have less points,” the Spanish manager said. Speaking about the latest game against Alaves, Xavi said it was “unacceptable” to concede a goal in 18 seconds. “We conceded a goal within 18 seconds. It’s unacceptable, and we have to change the dynamic,” he added.

Xavi also made a special mention of Ilkay Gundogan, whose mistake led to conceding the early goal. “We gave away the first goal with a mistake from Gündogan, I think. And then we almost gave away a second goal straight after. It was an ugly match,” the 43-year-old explained.