Xavi "worried" about Barcelona's Champions League knockout hopes

The Catalan outfit opened their 2022-23 European campaign with a 5-1 victory over Viktoria Plzen on September 7 but suffered a 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich one week later before going down 1-0 to Inter Milan at San Siro on Tuesday.

Hakan Calhanoglu's effort proved to be the difference between the two sides, but it was a controversial victory for Inter, with Barcelona having a Pedri goal disallowed for a Ansu Fati handball, while Denzel Dumfries escaped a late penalty shout when he handled inside the box.

The La Liga leaders are currently third in Group C, three points behind second-placed Inter and six behind leaders Bayern, who are firmly on course for a spot in the knockout round of the competition.

Barcelona manager Xavi has admitted that he is concerned by the table, with his side "in a very difficult and complicated situation".

"I'm worried about the table. We're in a very difficult and complicated situation. We have three finals remaining to try and qualify," Xavi said after the contest. "We have three finals, and two of them are at home."

Barcelona's next two European fixtures are at home to Inter and Bayern on October 12 and October 26 respectively, before finishing their group-stage campaign away to Viktoria Plzen on November 1.

Xavi also said that it was "complicated" for his side to create many chances against Inter on Tuesday evening due to the home side's impressive defensive set up.

"We tried attacking from inside, from outside, with Robert [Lewandowski] on 1v1... it was complicated. Inter closed well and scored a goal from outside the box which we did not defend well," he added.

"We have to recover, we can not fail more. In the first part we have not been at the level required by the competition.

"They defended very well. We could not play well from the middle. We always want to attack and attack better, but I think we lacked rhythm. We need to be self-critical beyond arbitration decisions.

"I think we did well in the second half. The first half was quite bad. I don't know if this is the worst match of the season."

Barcelona will now switch their attention back to La Liga, preparing to welcome Celta Vigo on Sunday, while they will also take on Real Madrid, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao and Valencia in the league before the end of the month.

Blaugrana are currently top of Spain's top flight on 19 points, while they have not conceded a single goal in the league since the 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad on August 21.