"Sometimes he chooses badly" - Barcelona manager Xavi admits star forward needs to improve his decision-making skills after disappointing draw against Inter
Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez opined that forward Ousmane Dembele needs to improve his decision-making skills on the pitch.
The Catalan club were held to a frustrating 3-3 draw at the Camp Nou Stadium by Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
Dembele scored the opening goal of the game to put his team ahead. However, they fell behind twice as Nicolo Barella, Lautaro Martinez, and Robin Gosens scored for the visitors.
Robert Lewandowski brought his team back level twice, which included a stoppage time equalizer. Despite his valiant efforts, Xavi's team are on the brink of elimination from the group stages of the competition yet again.
The Barcelona manager asked Dembele to improve his decision-making skills on the pitch, as he said after the game (via ESPN):
"I agree we need to make better decisions. And not just Ousmane, when we get into final third, we all have to make better decisions. It’s about footballing maturity. Gavi and Pedri are very young, but they make quite good decisions.
"Ousmane struggled more. I have a lot of confidence in Ousmane, but sometimes he chooses badly. He stretches the pitch, he’s fast and we have a lot of confidence in him."
A win for Inter Milan in their next game against Viktoria Plzen will see the Catalan club demoted to the UEFA Europa League. Plzen have lost all four of their games so far this season in the Champions League, conceding 16 goals.
Barca were also unable to make it out of the group stages of the competition last season.
Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez 'sad and a little angry' with his team's performance
Barcelona are at the top of the La Liga table at the moment, having collected 22 points from their first eight league games. However, their performances in the Champions League left a lot to be desired.
Xavi also expressed his frustration with his side's display after the game, saying:
"I am really disappointed, sad and a little angry as well. Last season, the feeling was that we were not good enough, but this time it has been down to mistakes. We had the games in our hands and we let it escape, in Munich above all, but also against Inter tonight.
"We have to be self-critical, too, it has been down to our mistakes,” he said. “Last year, maybe we weren’t good enough, we weren’t at the required level. This way it hurts more."
Next up for Barcelona is an away El Clasico on Sunday.