Barcelona manager feels 'robbed' at own home after Europa League fiasco

FC Barcelona did not feel any home advantage as they lost against Eintracht Frankfurt 2-3 at the Camp Nou last Thursday. Manager Xavi Hernandez claims that he felt something was wrong as soon as he left the hotel to head to the stadium.

The sheer number of away supporters could be felt in the streets of Barcelona. Their overwhelming presence was evident just by looking at the white-clad crowd heading towards the Camp Nou for the second leg of the UEFA Europa League quarter-final clash.

"When I left the hotel, I saw that something was wrong," Xavi admitted to the press, as quoted by Marca. His problems continued on the pitch, as the German side overpowered the hosts. "They threw everything at us. You feel robbed at home. It didn't seem like we were playing at home," he added.

This is not the only time that the manager spoke about the fiasco, with club president Joan Laporta also admitting that the situation was "embarrassing." Xavi went on to relay everything that went wrong for them that evening.

"Everything started badly. Then [came] the penalty. It was a fateful night in every way. It started and ended badly," he said.

Barcelona already endured massive embarrassment earlier in the season after they were eliminated from the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. That's how they ended up in the Europa League in the first place.

"It's a hard blow, they've eliminated us from the Europa League. We hoped to win it and go straight into the Champions League [group stage] and we haven't succeeded. It's a blow," he said. Upon their Champions League exit, Xavi had been confident that they could win the Europa League trophy. Luckily for them, they had managed to work their way up to second place in La Liga. If they do not collapse in the coming weeks, they appear to be on course to finishing within the UCL spots.

Barcelona are currently 15 points behind leaders Real Madrid. Even with two games in hand, there will still be a significant deficit even if they win their upcoming matches. Nevertheless, a second-place finish will save the Blaugrana their blushes.

"We wanted to win a title, and we're still fighting for the league. We're there [in the race], although it's complicated. I'm proud of how they competed on Thursday, but we didn't play well. I've shown them our mistakes," said Xavi.

Meanwhile, the club's investigation has revealed that season ticket holders and other individuals were able to sell tickets to Frankfurt supporters after buying them with member discounts, making the situation even more embarrassing.