Xavi has paid no attention to critical analysis of Barcelona following their Europa League defeat to Manchester United, looking to return focus to LaLiga.
Having drawn 2-2 at Camp Nou in the first leg of their knockout round play-off tie, Barca took the lead at Old Trafford.
But a second-half rally from United saw the Blaugrana beaten 2-1, exiting European competition.
Rather than stew on that result, though, Xavi has sought to move on quickly, with Barca eight points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the league table.
The coach has steered clear of all commentary around the game at Old Trafford.
"I've read almost nothing or nothing. It doesn't change anything," Xavi said ahead of Sunday's game against Almeria.
"I think we played a great game and we have to live with the defeat. You saw a Barca with a very good image.
"We don't think about criticism any more. You have to work to turn the tables on you."
Barca had already been eliminated from the Champions League after finishing behind Bayern Munich and Inter in their group.
"The biggest disappointment of the season was to fall out of the Champions League," Xavi said. "This one hurts, but we have LaLiga and the Copa.
"For us, it is essential to finish the season well. We have to compete in LaLiga and the Copa. We have to keep winning titles.
"We can lose, but we have to keep competing. Yesterday the sun came out again."
"That's not up to us. We cannot control it. We have to win tomorrow, regardless of what happens in the derby."
He added: "We will try not to be affected. You have to think that we are in a good position in LaLiga.
"We haven't lost since the Bernabeu and tomorrow we have a difficult game. We have to change the focus now."
After playing Almeria, Barca have the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg against Madrid on Thursday.
But Xavi said his side "cannot be aware" of the Clasico ahead of this match, and he is similarly uninterested in Madrid's derby this weekend against Atletico Madrid.
"It's not up to us. We cannot control it," he said. "We have to win tomorrow, regardless of what happens in the derby."
Lopetegui ready to ease pressure as he targets first home win
Julen Lopetegui says he expects to be under pressure after West Ham's recent struggles at home but hopes to put that right against Ipswich Town.
West Ham have won just one of their six Premier League matches so far, away to Crystal Palace, but have lost all three of their home fixtures, conceding eight goals and scoring twice.
Having failed to win any of their last four in the league, along with a heavy 5-1 defeat to Liverpool in the EFL Cup before last week's draw at Brentford, Lopetegui is coming under a little pressure already.
However, the Spaniard is not fazed by that, explaining his team are working hard to change their fortunes at the London Stadium.
"Always it's very important to win, and that's why we work hard every day. We want to win for sure," Lopetegui said.
"Ipswich are a good team, and all our thoughts are on Saturday.
"Our job is to live under pressure, and it is normal because we haven't won at home yet. That's why we are working, to try and win on Saturday against Ipswich."
Meanwhile, the Tractor Boys are still searching for their first win since being promoted back to the top-flight.
There is reason to be optimistic though, as Ipswich have drawn each of their last four outings, including 2-2 against Aston Villa last weekend.
Kieran McKenna is expecting another tough test but knows his players will show their competitiveness once again.
"I know it is another big game, another big challenge and one to look forward to," McKenna said.
"Let's hope we can make it really competitive. I don't think there [will be] many weeks this year where we are going to blow teams out of the water, so we need to work really, really hard to be competitive.
"We hope we can be really clinical in our execution when we have our moments and defend their moments well to give ourselves a chance to get a result."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
West Ham – Tomas Soucek
Tomas Soucek netted his 29th Premier League goal for West Ham United in their 1-1 draw with Brentford, overtaking Milan Baros (28) into second place for the top Czechia scorers in Premier League history.
He is now only behind Patrik Berger (38 goals), a record he will be keen to start chasing down.
Ipswich Town – Sam Morsy
No player has more Premier League yellow cards this season than Ipswich midfielder Sam Morsy (four) and was perhaps lucky not to receive a second against Aston Villa last weekend.
Since his Ipswich league debut in September 2021, only one player has more yellow cards in the league in England's top four tiers than Morsy's total of 40, but given his importance to McKenna's side, the manager will be hoping he can avoid another.
MATCH PREDICTION: WEST HAM WIN
West Ham have lost just one of their eight Premier League meetings with Ipswich (W3 D4), a 1-0 home loss in March 2001. Their last such meeting was a 3-1 victory for the Hammers in March 2002.
However, Ipswich won their last two league meetings with West Ham, beating them 1-0 away and 5-1 at home in the 2011-12 Championship campaign.
West Ham have lost their three home Premier League games this season, the first time they have started a season with three home defeats. The Hammers have not suffered four defeats in a row in the top-flight at the London Stadium since the final four home matches of Manuel Pellegrini's reign in November-December 2019.
Indeed, West Ham have won just five points in their opening six Premier League matches this season (W1 D2 L3), the fifth time in the last nine seasons they have had five or fewer points at this stage of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Ipswich are winless in all six Premier League games this season (D2 L4), only once starting a top-flight season with a longer winless start, in 1969-70 (seven games).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
West Ham – 51.3%
Draw – 23.8%
Ipswich Town – 24.9%
Szczesny reverses retirement to join Barcelona
Barcelona have signed Wojciech Szczesny as a free agent, with the goalkeeper reversing his decision to retire after the Blaugrana lost Marc-Andre ter Stegen to a long-term injury.
Germany international Ter Stegen underwent surgery after suffering a rupture of the patella tendon in his right knee last weekend and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
Inaki Pena was initially expected to cover for Ter Stegen, but Barca have now reinforced their squad with the signing of former Arsenal man Szczesny.
Szczesny had announced his retirement from football last month after terminating his contract with Juventus, where he had been a regular after replacing Italy great Gianluigi Buffon between the sticks.
Szczesny won Serie A and the Coppa Italia three times each with Juve, making more than 250 appearances for the club, but he then lost his place to close-season recruit Michele Di Gregorio.
Barcelona are top of LaLiga with 21 points from eight games and Hansi Flick's side next visit Alaves on Sunday, looking to bounce back from last week's defeat at Osasuna.
Raphinha proud of response as Barcelona bounce back in style
Raphinha believes Barcelona must be proud of their response after they bounced back from Saturday's defeat to Osasuna with a five-star Champions League display.
Barca opened in the Champions League with a 2-1 loss at Monaco two weeks ago and, after a great start to their LaLiga campaign that featured seven consecutive wins, slumped to a stunning 4-2 defeat at Osasuna over the weekend.
Yet Hansi Flick's team were back at their best as they cruised to an emphatic 5-0 win over Young Boys on Tuesday.
Raphinha, who was Player of the Match following a goal and an assist for one of Robert Lewandowski's two strikes, said the result was the confidence boost the team needed to keep improving.
"We knew that with this new Champions League format, after losing our debut at Monaco we needed to hit back quickly and decisively and that is what we did," Raphinha told Movistar Plus.
"The LaLiga loss at Osasuna over the weekend was an added pressure but the team responded well and I'm proud of our performance.
"In this new Champions League, not only every point but also every goal scored counts so the more, the better."
Flick echoed Raphinha's sentiment, even though he knows there is a long way to go.
"We have to start the games a bit stronger. We need to be more dynamic as a team from the start but at least it has been improving as the minutes have gone by," Flick told Movistar Plus.
"Nobody knows how this new Champions League will work but it is always good to have a good goal difference.
"I'm happy with Raphinha who played really well but we can't talk about just one player, the most important is to play as a team. Raphinha can only play this well if his teammates play well too."
In scoring twice, Lewandowski became only the second player to net 50 Champions League goals after turning 30, following Cristiano Ronaldo.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
