After being surprised by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez was forced to lament his team's "many errors."
Barca were generally anticipated to seal the job at home and earn their spot in the final four after securing a 1-1 draw in Frankfurt the previous week. However, Frankfurt outplayed the hosts, with Filip Kostic scoring twice, the first a penalty, either side of a breathtaking long-range effort by Rafael Santos Borre, who was encouraged by a travelling support of roughly 20,000 supporters.
Barcelona equalized in the 91st minute through Sergio Busquets, and the hosts tried a late comeback with Memphis Depay scoring a penalty in the 11th minute of injury time. However, it was too little, too late, as Frankfurt won 4-3 on aggregate and will now play West Ham, who strolled over Lyon in the Premier League.
"This is a huge disappointment, a genuine pity since we really wanted to win this tournament," he stated. "However, we must congratulate Eintracht, who deserved to go to the semi-finals and we didn't perform well." "Xavi expressed his thoughts. "We didn't play as well as we had been in recent weeks, therefore we're out.
"We tried, but the football was our issue." We had possession, but we failed to take advantage of it, which was our error. It was a pivotal evening. We committed several errors; their second goal was scored as a result of a turnover; the penalty was awarded as a result of an error; and in the third goal, we were pushing one side of the field while allowing them to go to the other. It's something we discussed, but it's not going to happen. We need to be critical of ourselves; we didn't perform properly, and that's why we're out."
The shock of losing and bad performance was arguably the more stunning given Barcelona's previous great run. Barca had gone 15 games without losing, including a 4-0 thrashing of arch-rivals Real Madrid, and had stormed to the top of the La Liga table.
Xavi also stated that he will speak with the club about Frankfurt's ability to get so many fans into the Camp Nou.
He said, "Obviously, it didn't assist us." "The supporters were evenly split, as if it were a final. The club is investigating what occurred, but it was our fault."
Frankfurt manager Oliver Glasner, unsurprisingly, lavished praise on his players, saying: "What we've witnessed today is something that no amount of money can buy. These feelings will endure a lifetime."