Xavi Hernandez walked into the Netherlands dressing room on Thursday evening with his side 2-0 down at Toumba Stadium and did not reach for anger. He apologised.

“Was I shouting in the dressing room? No, I was calm. The players were a bit sad. ‘Sorry, it was my fault,’ I told the players at half-time,” he said afterwards, having watched a triple substitution rescue a point against Greece.

Fotis Ioannidis had put the hosts ahead on 22 minutes, and Giorgos Masouras doubled Greece’s lead in first-half stoppage time. Netherlands had barely strung three passes together in the Greek half.

At the restart Xavi made three changes in one go. Tijjani Reijnders, Ryan Gravenberch and Noa Lang came on for Quinten Timber, Guus Til and Ruben van Bommel.

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Virgil van Dijk headed in on 58 minutes. A Denzel Dumfries equaliser six minutes later was disallowed for offside by VAR. Reijnders, one of the three substitutes, levelled with two minutes left.

‘Maybe the line-up wasn’t right’

Xavi did not blame his players afterwards. The error, he said repeatedly, was his.

“The first half was really bad. It was important to create chances from the start, but we did nothing. There was not enough intensity and ambition. That was my fault. Maybe the line-up wasn’t right,” he told reporters.

In separate comments picked up by Livescore, he was more technical: “I didn’t put the players in the right positions. There was no tempo or rhythm at all. There may have been too many changes compared with the previous match. That is my fault.”

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“I am never satisfied with a draw, but it is part of the process. We want to play like we did in the second half.”

One win in three for the Xavi project

The Thessaloniki draw continues an uneven start for a project only a few weeks old. Xavi was appointed on 12 August 2026 after Ronald Koeman’s departure following the 2026 World Cup.

His first competitive match ended 1-1 at home to Germany, and he picked up his first win on 27 September with a 2-1 away victory in Serbia through a Mexx Meerdink brace.

Three matches in, Netherlands sit second in Nations League Group A2 on five points, two behind Greece. Germany are a point further back on four, and Serbia are still looking for their first point.

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Xavi’s side host Serbia again on Sunday.

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