Barcelona may have defeated Almeria 3-2 on Wednesday evening, but their performance against the worst team in La Liga this season did little to ease off the scrutiny placed upon Xavi Hernandez and his players in recent weeks.
With the match tied 1-1 at half time, Xavi was absolutely furious during his team talk at the interval. Diario AS have revealed details of his half time team talk, which started with the repeating of “it can’t be! It can’t be!” as the Barcelona players returned to the dressing room.
Xavi accused his players of lacking soul, spirit and ambition during their first half performance, and he tore his shirt as a sign of how furious he was with his players, whom he told to “run like pigs” in the second period.
Finally, Xavi tore into Robert Lewandowski, who was particularly poor during the opening 45 minutes at Montjuic. The Barcelona head coach challenged his striker, stating “let’s see if you start running for f****** once!”
Xavi’s team talk had the desired effect as Barcelona came away with the three points, although there’s no doubt that plenty of work will need to be done on the training ground before the trip to Las Palmas on the fourth of January.
