Xavi believes his Barcelona side “deserved” to beat Real Madrid on Sunday, claiming poor referee decisions ultimately cost his side.
A last-minute goal from Madrid star Jude Bellingham secured a 3-2 win for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, as the 20-year-old netted his third goal against Barca this season.
It was a crushing result for Barcelona, who led the game twice through Andreas Christensen and Fermin Lopez, and two referee decisions left Xavi particularly frustrated.
The Barca boss was unhappy with the decision to award a penalty for Madrid’s first equaliser, before the biggest controversy of all came as the referees decided that Lamine Yamal’s strike had not fully crossed the goal line. La Liga do not have the same goal-line technology as most of Europe’s elite competitions and so the decision relied on a standard VAR check, which does not have the same camera angles available.
The controversy left Xavi feeling as though Barcelona had been on the receiving end of some unfair treatment from officials.
“We have to be proud of how we played, especially in the second half,” Xavi said. “We controlled the game well and we deserved to win.
“We did a good job and we deserved the three points, but they escape us due to situations that we cannot control and a failure to stop a clear counter. We could have even recovered the ball in the last transition.
“We deserved more. We were good. We created chances. It’s the story of the first game which set the tone for the season.”
Xavi declined to call out the referees after the game but insisted there was clear evidence that Barca had been wronged.
“Everyone has seen it,” he stressed. “They can sanction me. The images are there.
“I can only analyse the game and we were better than Madrid. We lacked details, but this is part of the transition process we are in. We deserved to win.
“[Madrid] generated very little against us beyond the penalty. The second goal is a defensive error and the third is a transition that we have not stopped. It was a carbon copy of the first round match. If you add six [points] to Barca and subtract it from Madrid, the La Liga title is there.”
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