Xavi: 'Our defending needs to be better'

Less than 48 hours after the 2-2 draw at Mallorca, coach Xavi Hernández was back in front of the media, this time to talk about the Friday night fixture against Sevilla. "We are on the right track" he said, despite dropping points at Son Moix.

“We might not be as brilliant in defence as we were last season, we need to improve our pressure after losing the ball, press higher up the pitch, concentrate a bit harder ... But we have got better up front. We created six clear chances against Mallorca and I think that's good baggage."

"Sevilla are the defending Europa League champions and a difficult team to play. They're solid, they like to play down the wings and play a direct, vertical game. But we're at home. We need the fans and the atmosphere at Montjuic to get back on the winning track."

He was also asked what he made of Lamine Yamal's major impact when he came off the bench against Mallorca. "It really shows that he's only 16 and we need to look after him. He's happy, a good lad having fun. But we need to be very careful with him, knowing that we can help with a lot of things this season."

And he was also asked about the new Liga leaders, the surprising Girona under manager Míchel, "who should get a lot of the credit for what they're achieving. It's no surprise to me because they have been doing things well at that club for several years".