Barcelona has a "psychological issue," according to Xavi, who has admitted that his players are missing courage.
Xavi was drafted in to update Ronald Koeman within the Camp Nou hot seat at the begin of November and managed to supply two wins and a draw in his first 3 games, in brief lifting the mood of gloom following the club's poor begin to the season.
However, Barca then came crashing go into reverse to earth with a 1-zero loss to Real Betis and exited the Champions League after a three-zero defeat to Bayern Munich, with the pinnacle teach left wondering the collective mental strength within his dressing room.
Xavi nevertheless believes there is sufficient talent in the Blaugrana's ranks to achieve success, however has warned that they have to be "brave" to start hard the elite once more.
"It is a mental difficulty as opposed to a football one," the Spaniard advised a press conference.
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"They need to accept as true with it and this is my activity. We are encouraging them to dare and be courageous. At Barcelona it's now not well worth playing 6/10 or 7/10. You must goal for excellence.
"This is what is lacking. Courage, aiming excessive and now not low because that isn't always what Barcelona do. Being brave and understanding the sport, we aren't that some distance from what we need.
"The squad has the extent to compete and win titles. In the Bayern game there was additionally a psychological component, but additionally [a sign that] behavior had been misplaced."
Xavi changed into speaking in advance of Barca's modern La Liga outing at Osasuna on Sunday, which it should win to stay inside the hunt for a pinnacle-4 finish.