Xavi demands 'respect' for Barcelona in title race

The FC Barcelona manager gave a telling message to journalists about his team’s prospects in the title race in LaLiga after a hard-fought victory.

Xavi Hernandez has demanded ‘respect’ for FC Barcelona after Thursday’s 2-1 victory over Las Palmas.

At the Canary Islands, Barcelona came from a goal down to snatch all three points. Ferran Torres drew Barca level in the second half after Munir El Haddadi’s opening goal for Las Palmas. Ilkay Gundogan then scored an injury-time penalty to complete the comeback victory.

As a result, Barcelona rank third in the LaLiga table, seven points behind joint-leaders Real Madrid and Girona.

When questioned if Barcelona still had a chance to win the league in a post-match press conference, Xavi replied: “Of course.”

“Did you see this week’s games in LaLiga?” the Barca manager continued.

“It’s hard for everyone to win in this league.

“Girona [won] in the last minute, [Real] Madrid in the 80th minute from a corner and us in the last moment with a penalty. There are arguments for Barça to win LaLiga, the first being that we are the reigning champions, so [give some] respect to the reigning champions.”

Had Barcelona lost the game against Las Palmas, they would’ve been in fifth in LaLiga and 10 points behind Real Madrid and Girona.

When the Cadena COPE reporter Helena Condis asked Xavi about this deficit hypothetically, the 43-year-old didn’t mince his words.

“If it was 10 points, it would be more difficult [to win the league], of course, but you are always negative,” he said.

“It makes me laugh. You are not the same with other coaches. We have won the game, so why ask that question? Why speak about what did not happen? It’s seems completely absurd to me.”

Barcelona will next face low-league team Barbastro in a round of 32 Copa del Rey game on Sunday.