Barça boss Xavi admits media negativity is affecting his players

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández said the negativity around the team affected performances after his team came from a goal down to beat Alavés 2-1 on Sunday at the Olympic Stadium.

Barca had lost two of their last three matches before the visit of Alavés and were sent off at half-time after Samu Omorodion gave the visitors a surprise lead after just 17 seconds.

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Robert Lewandowski scored twice in the second half to keep Barca four points behind La Liga leaders Girona, but the victory did little to ease the pressure on Xavi’s underperforming side.

“We started on the right foot,” Xavi said in his post-match press conference. “[Ilkay] Gündogan has lost a ball he wouldn’t normally lose and there is a transition. We cannot allow these errors. It is unacceptable.

“We give too much to the teams. We lost points in Mallorca, in Granada… We give too much and that generates insecurity among the players which is not good.

At half-time I told them to stay calm and that if we played our football we would come back. The players were more tense than usual because of everything that was happening around the team. And that Is not fair.

“It’s not fair because there have been injuries and players are coming back. We also have to be self-critical, but it’s normal that we don’t see players at their best because they don’t feel liberated.”

After a defeat against Real Madrid, a narrow victory against Real Sociedad and a defeat against Shakhtar Donestsk in midweek, Barca came under heavy criticism in the media. Xavi said this has hit young players particularly hard.

“What the media says undoubtedly affects the way the team plays,” he added. “THE [media] create situations and scenarios that, for me, are not real. And that, without a doubt, affects the team.

“It happened to me as a player and it happens to my players. There is a negativity that is neither good nor positive at all.

“It especially affects the younger players. You see [Iñigo] Martínez, Lewandowski, [João] Cancelo and Gundogan, that doesn’t concern them. But we have a lot of young people and we have to protect them and give them confidence.

“[The performances] It’s our fault, of course, but young people feel a tension that didn’t exist a month ago. It’s a difficult situation that we have to deal with, but it’s tough, especially after conceding an early goal.”

Samu, on loan to Alavés from Atlético Madrid, should have added his first goal. He missed three more big chances in the first half before Barca turned things around after the break.

Lewandowski’s brilliant header from Jules Koundé’s cross leveled the scores, with the Polish striker then scoring the winner from the penalty spot in the 78th minute after substitute Ferran Torres was fouled.

“I’m sad,” said Alavés coach Luis García. “The key is the first half. We need to score two or three and not doing so changes the game. I’m proud of the team, but we should have had a bigger lead at halftime .

“There is a big difference between the two groups of players and from there, individually, they can beat you. If you are not perfect in every aspect of the game, they beat you.”