Xavi bemoans Barcelona's 'worst game of the season' after defeat at Almeria

Barcelona's Ronald Araujo reacts to a missed chance against Almeria at Power Horse Stadium in Almeria, Spain, February 26, 2023. Alemria beat the Spanish league leaders 1-0. EPA

Almeria's Chumi, left, in action against Barcelona's Gav. EPA

Almeria's Rodrigo Ely celebrates at the final whistle. EPA

Barcelona's Ferran Torres, left, vies for the ball with Almeria's Luis Suarez. AP Photo

Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona, right, battles for possession with Chumi of Almeria. Getty Images

Rodrigo Ely of Almeria celebrates victory with teammate Srdjan Babic. Getty Images

Barcelona's Polish forward Robert Lewandowski fights for the ball with Almeria's Brazilian defender Rodrigo Ely. AFP

Barcelona's Raphinha challenges Almeria goalkeeper Fernando Martinez. AFP

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski and Almeria's Chumi jump for the ball. AFP

Gavi of Barcelona is tackled by Rodrigo Ely of Almeria. Getty Images

Barcelona's Spanish coach Xavi. AFP

Almeria's Bilal Toure in action against Barcelona's Sergio Busquets. EPA

Almeria's Malian forward El Bilal Toure (R) celebrates with Almeria's Brazilian forward Leo Baptistao after scoring his team's first goal during the Spanish League football match between UD Almeria and FC Barcelona at the Municipal Stadium of the Mediterranean Games in Almeria, on February 26, 2023. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP)

Almeria's Lucas Robertone, left, vies for the ball with Barcelona's Ferran Torre. AP Photo

Barcelona's Ferran Torres reacts. Reuters

Xavi described Sunday's loss as lowly Almeria as Barcelona's "worst game of the season" as the Catalans failed to capitalise on Real Madrid's derby draw with Atletico to extend their advantage at the top of La Liga.

El Bilal Toure's fine first-half strike earned Almeria their first ever victory over Barca, inflicting only the second defeat of the league campaign on Xavi's men.

Barcelona still top La Liga by seven points over champions Madrid as they chase a first Spanish league title since 2019.

But the setback at Almeria ended Barca's 13-game unbeaten league run and follows a 2-1 defeat at Manchester United on Thursday that ended their Europa League hopes.

Barca face Madrid in a Clasico Copa del Rey semi-final first leg on Thursday at the Bernabeu, with their vulnerabilities starting to show.

"I'm very angry because I think we played our worst game of the season," Xavi told Movistar.

"Above all in the first half, we couldn't move the ball around, we lacked intensity, speed, on a day where we couldn't mess up.

"We did not show the passion [we needed] to win the game. In the second half, yes, but they defended well."

Xavi, already without injured trio Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Ansu Fati, took a risk and rotated heavily and his team paid the price.

The lowly hosts, starting the game 19th with just one victory in their prior eight league games, were on top and went ahead through Toure's emphatic finish.

The Mali international cushioned a long ball into striker Luis Suarez's path, before spinning and breaking forward at pace.

Suarez lofted a pass over Andreas Christensen and Toure ran on to it, lashing an effort past Marc-Andre ter Stegen and in off the crossbar.

It was only the eighth league goal Barcelona have conceded this season, stopping Ter Stegen adding to his impressive tally of 17 clean sheets.

Ter Stegen said Barcelona would recover ahead of the cup clash against Madrid.

"It's a defeat, it always hurts, it never arrives at a good moment, but we will calm ourselves," said the goalkeeper.

"It's important to charge our batteries for Thursday. We're looking forward and we will achieve what we want to."

Almeria rose to 15th, two points clear of the relegation zone.

"The best team in the league came to us, they're first, and we were capable of blocking them, of taking advantage of the chance we had," Almeria coach Rubi told Movistar.