“Some of you don’t understand what it means”: Xavi slammed Barça players at half-time

After a promising start to life as Barcelona manager, Xavi Hernandez has been given a harsh reality check over the past week.

The 41-year-old faced the first defeat of his tenure last weekend when Real Betis came to Camp Nou and won 1-0. Last night, though, the former midfielder had to witness a harrowing 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich, resulting in their elimination from the UEFA Champions League.

The performance was devoid of any spirit or confidence as Barca just folded over despite having made a decent start to the contest. The heads just seemed to have dropped after the German champions opened the scoring through Thomas Muller before Leroy Sane doubled their lead in the first half.

And, now, SPORT is claiming that Xavi did not take it too kindly and hit out at the players during the half-time break. The manager was said to be furious with the performance of his stars and made them aware of it in no uncertain terms, saying something along the lines of “Some of you don’t understand what it means to play for Barça.”

Apart from giving tactical inputs during the mid-game break, the former Al Sadd boss is also believed to have appealed to his players to turn things around by talking about the impact and the consequences of the result.

However, as it would turn out, Xavi’s speech failed to make any difference as the Barcelona players were dull and uninspiring after the restart, allowing Bayern total control. Jamal Musiala added the third goal for the hosts and it could have been much worse for the Blaugrana if the German giants were more clinical.

The report reveals that the atmosphere inside the Barca dressing room after the result was one of dead silence. Xavi was believed to be furious but did not lash out at the squad, but instead, delivered a strong message to his players.

Barcelona will now play in the UEFA Europa League starting February and will hope to go all the way in the competition. Wednesday’s result could also spark major changes at the club, as they look to get their affairs in order after years of mismanagement under the previous boards.