Results belie Barca form, says Xavi

Barcelona midfielder Xavi maintains his side are not in a form slump despite the Catalan giants winning just one of their past three matches.

Barca were held to a surprise draw at Sporting Gijon in their last La Liga game away from home before being beaten by fast-finishing Arsenal 2-1 in the Champions League last week.

Pep Guardiola’s side then needed a 78th minute winner to edge past Athletic Bilbao over the weekend, but Spanish international Xavi says that that the reigning La Liga champions have deserved better from their recent performances.

“You look at the games, and see that we are far superior to our opponents,” Xavi said.

“I know that people are very results-obsessed in this sport, but watching games gives me the feeling that we are much better than our opponents.”

“We drew against Sporting and lost in London when playing great, but people only remember the result. If you analyse the game, you’ll see that we were far better, and that we deserved much more favourable results.”

Xavi also revealed he picked up a minor leg strain in the 2-1 win over Athletic on Sunday, and although he is expected to miss Saturday’s trip to Mallorca, he should be fine for next Wednesday’s La Liga clash against third-placed Valencia.

“It is a small injury from last year. I felt it again after Sunday’s game, I went for tests and they found this. It is a very small injury, and there shouldn’t be any problem with me playing against Valencia,” he said.