Xavi's Unbeaten Run As Barcelona's Manager Ended By Real Betis

Xavi Hernandez suffers his first defeat as a Barcelona manager.

Xavi began on a good start as a new Blaugrana boss, having won his opening two league games in charge against Espanyol and Villarreal, as well as a goalless draw with Benfica in the Champions League.

The former Barcelona and Spanish football legend was stunned at home today after a late goal in the second half gave a solid Real Betis side a huge 1-0 victory at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona started the game a stronger side, but after failing to take all their chances, the visitors grew into the game by begining the second half well and had a goal disallowed in the 52nd minute, when Juanmi managed to beat Ter Stegen only to be ruled offside.

Juanmi finally got his goal from a counter-attack down the right to give Betis the winner in the 79th minute.

The goal was Juanmi's 11th goal in 16 games across all competitions, with the Betis forward being the top Spanish scorer so far this season with nine goals in the La Liga.

Real Betis are now third in the table following three consecutive LaLiga wins, six points behind leaders Real Madrid who play away to Real Sociedad later today.

"We don't deserve to loose today, but this is football, we deserve much more... Said Xavi after the loss.

"We need to score, create more chances and be clinical, We need to be careful in the transition of the opponent, and that's why we loose today which is usually unfair."

The defeat for the Catalan giants leaves them seventh in the league after their second loss on home soil this season, and six points off the top four spot.

Up next for Barcelona, is a trip to Germany to face Bayern Munich on Wednesday in their final group game. They need a result against Bayern, with hope that Benfica doesn't win at home to Dynamo Kyiv in order to guarantee they reach the Champions League knockout stage.

The game will be played behind closed doors at the Allianz Arena, due to the increase in Covid-19 cases.

Both sides had met earlier at the Camp Nou in September, with Bayern cruising to a 3-0 victory, courtesy of Thomas Müller opener and Robert Lewandowski's brace.