Barca lost to their Catalan neighbors for the first time in La Liga history, and fell seven points behind this season’s surprise leaders in the title race as a consequence.

The hosts were unable to deal with the visitors on the break and were outplayed in considerable chunks of the match, yet Xavi refused to accept this after the full time whistle.

“I think the match was even, it was decided by details,” Xavi stated.

“We lacked effectiveness. We played well in the game,” he insisted.

Check the comments section of any post from a social media account sharing the quotes and be met by Barca fans that have blasted their manager.

“Not a f*cking word of self-criticism,” said one on X, who added he was “starting to get fed up” of the former midfielder in the hotseat.

“Xavi seems like he was in another movie theater. It’s incredible how blind this guy is,” remarked another.

Xavi also said: “It’s a Barca under construction and the construction has these things. We did things well but we had a great opponent in front of us.

For this, he was criticized by Catalan journalist Josep Capdevilla, who tweeted: “A Barca under construction, he says. Well, at the rate they are going, they will finish the Sagrada Familia (a famous Catholic Church in Barcelona on which work began in 1882) sooner than a recognizable Barca.

“No, it is not this. He just wants to buy time. [He has the] face of a child who has never broken a plate in his life,” Capdevilla added.

The same figure also scratched his head at Xavi’s tactical approach.

“A center back playing as a right back. A right back playing as a left back. A left back playing as a center back,” he remarked.

This was because Xavi fielded right back Joao Cancelo at left back and Ronald Araujo as a right back. Furthermore, left back Alejandro Balde then came off the bench to play as a central defender.

After earning credit for back-to-back wins against Porto and Atletico Madrid which pulled him out of his worst criticism since taking over in 2021, it appears that Xavi is set to be thrown back into the fire by the “entorno” environment that engulfs the club.