Xavi still under pressure? Barcelona sporting director Deco 'understands' criticism of head coach as he admits La Liga champions haven't been playing well after scraping through in Champions League

The former Barcelona midfielder admitted that the team has been underperforming on the pitch and that he understands the criticisms that have followed, especially those surrounding head coach Xavi.

There has been speculation regarding the future of the Barcelona manager, with Rafael Marquez tipped to replace him at the helm, but Deco has backed Xavi to continue at the club.

Speaking to Movistar, the former Portugal international said: "We don’t have to ratify anything, Xavi is our coach, he has a contract and he recently renewed it. And when a club renews its coach it is because it trusts him, there is no discussion. I understand that when we don’t play well and don’t win there is criticism, but that’s normal. This is football and we are used to it.

"It’s normal, we know that rumours are normal at Barça when they don’t play well. But we know what we want on a day-to-day basis, we know that we had to bring players back when we thought we had everyone, Gavi got injured. But this is football and the important thing is the day-to-day, how hard we work, how much we suffer in defeat and this is a team."

The Catalan giants narrowly escaped an FC Porto scare in the Champions League on Tuesday as they came back from behind to beat the Portuguese giants 2-1 riding on Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix's strikes.

Prior to the game, the five-time Champions League winners had managed to win just two out of their last five outings across all competitions, including a defeat in El Clasico and a loss against Shakhtar Donetsk.

The reigning La Liga champions are currently four points behind current leaders Real Madrid as they prepare to take on Atletico Madrid in a crucial league clash on Sunday at home.