Xavi: All is well at Camp Nou

Barcelona midfielder Xavi hopes his side’s 6-1 demolition of Real Zaragoza is more than enough proof that all is well at the European champions.

Barca found themselves in the spotlight heading into their home clash with Zaragoza following a disappointing couple of results in the last week.

They lost their 100% start to the Primera Division season and a chance to break a club record when they were held goalless by Valencia last weekend, and then in midweek they crashed to a shock 2-1 home defeat to Rubin Kazan in the Champions League.

That was Barca’s first defeat in Europe since last December and first loss in any competitive match since May, and led to Pep Guardiola’s side coming under fire in the Spanish media.

However, the Barca players last week dismissed suggestions of a possible crisis and let their football do the talking last night by thrashing Zaragoza to go three points clear at the top of La Liga.

“We’ve shown that we are fine physically and that we aren’t lacking goals,” Xavi said following the victory. “I already said that the game the other day (against Rubin) was just one of those things.

“People tend to be guided by results, but we know that if we continue playing like that then we will almost always win. We weren’t very good against Valencia, but we were fine against Rubin apart from in front of goal.

We’ve been good here (against Zaragoza), we’ve had chances and we were winning 2-0 very quickly. The victory helped show that we are doing things well, has helped build confidence, and has made us league leaders.”

Midfielder Seydou Keita led Barca’s goal blitz with a hat-trick, while big-money summer signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic continued his good start to life at Barca with a brace, and Lionel Messi added the other.

Ibrahimovic has now struck seven times in La Liga, leaving him level with Valencia’s David Villa at the top of the La Liga scoring charts and one above team-mate Messi.