Fuming Xavi harsh on Barcelona players: The first half was unacceptable

Barcelona beat Almeria in a five-goal thriller but were far from convincing

Xavi Hernandez ripped into his Barcelona players for their 'unacceptable' first-half display in their 3-2 win over Almeria on Wednesday night, claiming they don't have the 'quality' to match teams of the past.

Sergi Roberto scored twice after Raphinha's opener at Estadi Lluis Companys, but it proved to be a hard-fought win against LaLiga's bottom side after a litany of defensive errors hampered the hosts.

And head coach Xavi, who has been under intense scrutiny over his position following their defeats to Girona and Antwerp, stressed that he was not impressed with how they performed in the first 45 minutes.

«More suffering than I expected and [more] than we deserved. We shot 30 times and gave away two goals,» Xavi told reporters in his post-match press conference.

«The first half is unacceptable as a coach. The second half, yes. We failed a lot and we've been doing that for a month and a half or two.»

Elaborating on his unhappiness with the first-half display, the 43-year-old slammed his players for failing to meet the standards of effort that he demands as a manager in the first half, before praising their response after the interval.

«The first half is unacceptable, I told the players at half-time. We lack effectiveness, but we have to have aggressiveness and spirit. As a coach, I don't accept that,» he added.

«Either we run like an animal or it [the victory] doesn't happen. We don't have the Barcelona of 2010. Last year, we were aggressive and we ran… people whistled… in the second half they cheered. We can't not give our all.

»In the second half, they came out differently. Either we give our all or we won't win anything. We have to wake up. If it