'Shame': Barca Boss Xavi Left 'Disappointed' With Shock Europa League Loss to Eintracht Frankfurt
07:29 GMT 15.04.2022 (Updated: 11:44 GMT 10.12.2022)
Subscribe
The legendary Xavi Hernandez managed to bring back some sense of consistency in Barcelona's play after the Catalan giants reeled from the exit of Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) last summer. However, he couldn't prevent the Blaugrana from crashing out of a major European competition on Thursday.
Barcelona were sent packing from the Europa League quarter-finals by a resurgent Eintracht Frankfurt, having suffered a surprise 3-2 loss in front of their home fans at Camp Nou.
The Spanish outfit's boss Xavi termed the exit a "big disappointment" for the club.
"We have not played in the best way, we have not been well", he said at a press conference after his team's shock loss.
"They have gone well against us and have scored a great goal with a silly loss of ours. Blow after blow. It is a very big disappointment. It's a shame because we had hopes in this competition", the former Spain midfielder added.
Ahead of the game, Barca were the overwhelming favourites to win, after all, they were riding high on a 15-match unbeaten run. But the German side broke any illusion, if there was any, about their status in the match.
Almost immediately at the start of the contest, Frankfurt showed that they would not play the match as the underdogs, taking the lead with a fourth minute penalty strike from Filip Kostic.
Subsequently, Rafael Borre's stunning long-range goal gave them a 2-0 advantage over the former La Liga champions.
Barcelona tried to claw their way back with a goal from Sergio Busquets in the 91st minute, but the Bundesliga side's Evan Ndicka put a full stop to their efforts as he made it 3-1 for the visitors in stoppage time.
Though Memphis Depay hit the net just a minute after Ndicka's effort, Barca still lost the match 3-2.
Thursday's result also meant that Xavi's boys also lost the last 8 tie 4-3 on aggregate, after the first leg in Germany ended in a 1-1 draw.
"They have gone well against us and have scored a great goal with a silly loss of ours. Blow after blow. It is a very big disappointment. It's a shame because we had hopes in this competition", the former Spain midfielder added.
Ahead of the game, Barca were the overwhelming favourites to win, after all, they were riding high on a 15-match unbeaten run. But the German side broke any illusion, if there was any, about their status in the match.
Almost immediately at the start of the contest, Frankfurt showed that they would not play the match as the underdogs, taking the lead with a fourth minute penalty strike from Filip Kostic.
Subsequently, Rafael Borre's stunning long-range goal gave them a 2-0 advantage over the former La Liga champions.
Barcelona tried to claw their way back with a goal from Sergio Busquets in the 91st minute, but the Bundesliga side's Evan Ndicka put a full stop to their efforts as he made it 3-1 for the visitors in stoppage time.
Though Memphis Depay hit the net just a minute after Ndicka's effort, Barca still lost the match 3-2.
Thursday's result also meant that Xavi's boys also lost the last 8 tie 4-3 on aggregate, after the first leg in Germany ended in a 1-1 draw.
.jpg){kind=link}