After a 1-1 away tie at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, Barcelona’s title ambitions are rapidly dwindling even with the return of Frenkie de Jong. In the 82nd minute, Florian Lejeune’s own goal negated Unai Lopez’s goal, meaning that Barcelona has now lost three of their previous five games across all competitions. Barcelona’s away performance in La Liga has been questionable; Xavi’s team has already drawn four games away from home against lower-division opponents.

While Gavi, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and Sergi Roberto’s absences from the game indicate that Barcelona has struggled with injury, Xavi’s reflections after the loss do not fully explain the team’s point loss.

“We didn’t have the drive to succeed. Regarding the game, Xavi stated, “We need to shift our mindset if we want to win trophies this season.” “Although strong, the second half fell short. We awoke past the hour. We achieved our goals of dominating and creating opportunities. We were capable of scoring more. However, if we want to win La Liga, we must win these games, therefore we must also be critical of ourselves and get better. We need to perform more like we did in the second half.”

Regarding the half issue, he is correct; in three of the draws, Barcelona required a goal in the 75th or later to win. While Xavi’s tweaks during games have contributed to some of the scoring, some of it is the result of flaws that were resolved earlier in contests.

Barcelona, who is attempting to defend its La Liga crown, is now in fourth place behind Atletico Madrid and might fall six points behind Girona by the conclusion of the weekend. Expected to win titles every season, major changes may occur in the summer if Barcelona doesn’t win the league and doesn’t advance far in the Champions League.

Even though Robert Lewandowski, at 35, still has a great record of seven goals and three assists, he is not able to do it all by himself. For this reason, Barcelona hopes to sign Vitor Roque from Atletico Paranaense early in January, provided they can raise the necessary funds. Roque, who is only 18 years old, has already contributed three assists and 11 goals in 22 games, which can give the Barcelona offence the boost it needs.

Since Xavi has primarily depended on young players, adding another could jeopardise Barcelona’s chances of winning the championship today, but they are currently in a difficult situation because they lack the money to bring in experienced players.