FC Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez has insisted he has president Laporta's confidence in continuing to lead the team and was again forced to address whether it is currently battling through a crisis ahead of Tuesday's must-win Champions League clash with Porto.

Barca host their Portuguese foes at the Montjuic Stadium with the winner claiming top spot in Group H.

After losing a La Liga instalment of El Clasico to Real Madrid in late October, Barca also fell to Shakhtar Donetsk in Hamburg the following week.

Amid these setbacks, there have also been unconvincing wins against Real Sociedad and Alaves home and away to compliment a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano.

Mumblings that Xavi isn't the right man for the hotseat are growing in number, but Xavi insisted he feels "100% confidence from Laporta".

"I have a good relationship with the president and Deco," he added.

As for the 'c-word', Xavi explained: "Here we always talk about a crisis if you don't win. You always have to win. It's the demand."

"There is always criticism, it's normal. It's accepted to improve, to be more forceful, to have more of a positive and winning mentality. Barca is the highest demand"

Memories are short in football, and though Xavi was heralded as the saviour of the club as recent as the spring when delivering a maiden La Liga crown in four years, he is now being put out to pasture by some corners of the media and fanbase with his men slipping to fourth in the title race.

"The hardest thing in sport is to win after you've done it," Xavi noted. "I admire athletes who feel this drug of [winning]. We have to be competitive beasts. We only reacted the other day when we were 1-0 down. Tomorrow we have to go all out."

As for self-criticism, which is highly-regarded in Spanish football, Xavi insisted he is "very critical of the players" in video analysis and during the talks they have.

"We have to demand a lot from ourselves. We're not at the level we were a month and a half or two months ago.

"We have to push harder, regain the intensity [and] winning mentality. We've proven it. Now we've gone down a little bit. [But] we have to be more humble, generous, more compact. And starting from tomorrow," he concluded on this.