"The team is uncomfortable right now" - Xavi makes worrying admission after Barcelona's 3-2 UCL defeat to Royal Antwerp

Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has admitted he's worried about his side after they fell to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Royal Antwerp on Wednesday, December 13.

The Blaugrana suffered their second loss in a row across all competitions in the UEFA Champions League away from home against Antwerp. Despite not accumulating a single point in the group stages before the match, the home side were able to secure a thrilling 3-2 upset.

Arthur Vermeeren (2'), Vincent Janssen (56'), and George Ilenikhena (92') were on target for Antwerp, while Ferran Torres (35') and Marc Guiu (91') scored one goal apiece for Barcelona.

Xavi gave his verdict on his side during the post-match press conference, saying (via Barca Blaugranes):

“I’m worried, of course. That’s normal. The team is uncomfortable right now. We’re on a bad run - two negative results [in a row]. We can be self-critical. It’s time to improve. Our rivals make chances and threaten, we have to do more of that ourselves - it’s costing us."

“We have achieved our objective by winning the group, we won away to our toughest rivals, Porto, but we need to recuperate the good sensations we had earlier in the group. We need to break this dynamic."

He added:

“We are in the draw on Monday as group winners. It’ll be interesting to see who we draw but it’s time to look at ourselves as much who we’ll play the next round."

“It was a difficult and tough match. They played aggressively and were good defensively. We didn’t play that well. We were not comfortable. But the first goal was to be in the Round of 16 and there we are. We look forward to the draw.”

Despite their disappointing loss to Antwerp, Barcelona have still finished at the top of Group H in the UCL with 12 points from six games.

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How did Barcelona fare against Royal Antwerp in their UCL clash?

Royal Antwerp displayed great resilience to secure a 3-2 upset against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday. Let's take a look at the stats to see how both teams performed.

Xavi Hernandez and Co. dominated possession, with 70 percent of the ball. They also attempted a total of 672 passes, with an accuracy of 91 percent. In contrast, Antwerp had 30 percent possession and attempted 290 passes, with an accuracy of 81 percent.

Despite having less possession, it was Antwerp that looked more dominant in attack, registering a total of 11 shots, with five being on target. On the other hand, Barcelona failed to make the most of their possession and had 11 shots in total, landing just three on target.