Xavi seeking 'conviction in all areas'

Xavi Hernández feels that his team "lacks conviction in all areas" and that has been the reason for some poor results in October. "We need to be more effective and decisive in defence and attack, and I think the reason why we are nine points behind Girona is because of our own mistakes."

The first team coach was speaking at his conference ahead of Wednesday's game at home to Almería.

Although a gap has opened up between FC Barcelona and Girona and Real Madrid, "it's a difference that we can make up. It's a matter of not slipping up and starting to rack up wins, starting against Almería. To win the league, we need to take things step by step, we need to win games, we need the fans and we need to put in a complete performance, which is something we haven't been doing yet."

As for being drawn against Napoli in the Champions League, the coach said "we are playing against the current Italian champions and I think it'll be difficult. It think we have a 50% chance because they are in a similar situation to our own."

And when quizzed about Vitor Roque, Xavi said the Brazilian "is a very good signing but we shouldn't go putting pressure on someone who is just 18 years old. It's a similar case to Lamine Yamal, where we need to take things step by step."