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Saturday 21 May 2022
05:19 PM
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez praised his team after saving the season, which “could have been worse”.
But Xavi called for the necessity of strengthening his team’s ranks in light of the imminent departure of French winger Osman Dembele, who may play his last match with the team tomorrow, Sunday, through the confrontation with Villarreal.
Xavi trained Barcelona last November, succeeding Dutch coach Ronald Koeman, when the team was ranked ninth in the Spanish League.
But Xavi succeeded in correcting the path of the Catalan club and moved it to second place, 13 points behind the champion Real Madrid, with one round remaining at the end of the season.
“We saved the situation that could have been worse,” Xavi said in a press conference today, Saturday, during the Villarreal match.
“We advanced from the bottom up, we competed but we didn’t get any reward, we have to win titles,” he added.
“I don’t give myself a grade because no matter what is said it will be criticized, we have to develop a lot, I first demand more of myself, from now on we look forward to further development,” Xavi said.
Xavi concluded by saying, “We have to develop by all means, psychologically and physically, which is the aspect that we have already developed, and strengthen our ranks so that there are two players in each position, as well as develop technically so that everyone understands our ideas.”
Dembele is preparing to bid farewell to Barcelona, amid news of Bayern Munich and Chelsea’s interest in his inclusion.
Barcelona President Joan Laporta expressed his hope that Dembele, the winner of the World Cup with France, would remain, and also praised Xavi for the player who made 11 goals in 2022, outperforming all the players of the five major European leagues in decisive passes.
“It may be his last game, you have to be optimistic,” Xavi said. “He played great matches, the team was affected by his absence.”