Xavi: Barça have to compete on the European stage next season
The Champions League is undoubtedly the main objective - in two seasons, the Spanish manager has not progressed beyond the group stage.
Now, without Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, Xavi has started to rebuild a squad who undoubtedly need a top signing to replace their long-standing pivot.
The top signing, in addition to replacing Busquets, will have another task: to provide the serenity to play in Europe. International competitions, from Xavi's perspective, are Barça's unfinished business.
In two seasons, they have failed to reach the semi-finals of either the Champions League or Europa League.
In the Champions League, in fact, they have been eliminated in the group stage; in the Europa League, the best result has been a quarter-final finish, where Barça lost to Eintracht Frankfurt.
"Next year we have to compete in Europe, it's our unfinished business," said Xavi on TV3's Gol a Gol. "It's a tough feeling not to be able to compete with the big teams."
Xavi also revealed the defeat at the Bernabéu in October marked a turning point in the season.
In that match, Real Madrid ran roughshod over the Culé side and Ter Stegen prevented a rout that would have been catastrophic.
"After the defeat at the Bernabéu, I met with the squad," he said. "I asked the rest of the staff to leave me alone with the players, because in that game was the only one where I saw that there was a little bit of soul missing.
"There was a lack of passion and those values I had asked for from the first day: attitude, respect and effort.
"I noticed there was something wrong with the team and I met with them, for a long time. We said things to each other's faces and there was a 'before and after' (following) that talk, it made us more united than ever."
