Ousmane Dembele was whistled by Barcelona fans in his first Camp Nou outing of 2022 as they ignored Xavi's pre-match pleas.
Dembele had spent over a month on the sidelines amid a turbulent January transfer saga that saw Barca look to cash in on the Frenchman before he becomes a free agent at the end of the season.
Xavi drafted Dembele back into his squad for a 2-2 La Liga draw with Espanyol last weekend and he made another substitute appearance in the Europa League against Napoli on Thursday night, but did not receive a warm reception from the Blaugrana faithful.
Watch: Dembele whistled after coming on against Napoli
Xavi's reaction
In spite of the crowd's reaction to his introduction, Dembele produced an impressive 25-minute cameo in the first leg of the round of 32 tie, which ultimately ended 1-1.
Xavi had publically called on supporters to get behind the 24-year-old for the remainder of the season and was disappointed that his appeal fell on deaf ears.
The Barca boss did, however, feel that Dembele had won the crowd around by the end of the game, as he told reporters after the final whistle: “The public has ignored me, it is sovereign and it decides.
“In the end, he has transformed it to applause when he has generated things and dribbled.
“He has a lot of professionalism. We have already whistled him and that’s it. He is one more player.
“The news is that he transformed the whistles into applause.”