In a thriller in Jeddah, Barca won 3-2, with Raphinha hitting the winner midway through the second-half.
Afterwards, Xabi stated: "There are mixed emotions. On the one hand, the disappointment at not being able to win the final, but there is also pride because the team has given its all from the first minute to the last in undesirable circumstances. We competed and fought right to the end.
"The final was very even, with different moments, different circumstances, goals and reactions. We fought right to the end and we came very close, with those last two chances to equalise and to go to penalties."
"The team competed well. We're not pleased with the result, but we can take positives from it. There's a long way to go in the season and we have to turn it around as soon as possible. When we get to Madrid we'll forget about this Super Cup, think about all the competitions we have and get people back, which is the most crucial thing right now.”
Xabi drew positives from the attitude displayed by his players on the night. Real struck through Vini Jr and Gonzalo Garcia, but it wasn't enough.
The coach also said: “The team showed great attitude and great commitment. There were going to be times when we had to have resilience without the ball and conviction in what we were doing. The first 30 minutes we hardly conceded (chances) and we had two good counter-attacks.
"We conceded that first goal from a turnover and in the last 15 minutes of the first half a lot happened in a short space of time. The second half was quite competitive and evenly matched. A deflection made it 3-2 and I was convinced that we were going to have chances to equalise and we had them, but we lacked the accuracy to take the game to penalties.”