Since he left for Qatar, first to extend his career as a player and then to begin his journey as a coach, Xavi Hernández fantasized about returning to Barcelona. He believed that the Camp Nou bench was tailored to him. That’s what he had prepared for, that’s what those who heard him talk about football also made him believe. The dream, however, turned out to be a nightmare. At least, the ending. Now calmer and after repeatedly describing his work as “cruel”, the Barça coach gave more details about the decision to leave Barça. “It’s not the pressure. “It’s just that I am not valued in a general way,” he began his argument, in the previous match against Osasuna (7:00 p.m., DAZN); “This generates wear and tear, and even more so in your home.”
In his first season, Xavi took the reins of Barça with the team in ninth position and made it climb to second place. “Last year, we won the League against a Madrid that had a equipment and he had just won the Champions League,” the coaching staff recalls. However, at Barça any present erases the most recent past, regardless of its greatness. And Xavi doesn’t understand it. “When I say we are under construction, you kill me. When I say that we don’t have the Barça of 2010, there is also criticism. Whatever you do, there are critics. They don’t buy anything from me. Neither winning the League 14 points behind Madrid, nor winning the Super Cup, nor with the current crop of players. It is a matter of the environment, of the club, of demands and of my person… And hence my feeling of leaving,” he described.
And, immediately afterwards, he insisted: “I believe that our work will never be valued,” he insisted. Leaving self-esteem exclusively in your own hands is dangerous, but leaving it in the hands of others is even more so. Xavi was used to controlling the Barça environment as a player, he did not know (or could) do it as a coach. “To endure in this club you have to isolate yourself,” reflects a Barcelona employee, who remarks: “And let everything slip away from you.”
The truth is that no one finds the formula to lead the Barcelona bench. “What advice would you give to your successor so that the same thing as you doesn’t happen to him?” they asked the still Barça coach. “The same thing is going to happen to him. My advice is that he try to enjoy himself,” he resolved. Xavi jumped into the first team with a guy usually angry with the press like Louis Van Gaal. “There are two Barças, that of the street and that of the press. “I’ll stick with the guy on the street,” the Dutchman attacked the media. The Catalan coach grew up as a footballer with the impassive and uncontroversial Frank Rijkaard, his football peaked with Pep Guardiola and faded with Luis Enrique.
“Pep, like Johan [Cruyff]”He controlled things outside well,” says an old employee. “But Guardiola was burning inside,” he adds in relation to the current City coach’s farewell phrase to Barcelona; “I’m leaving because time wears everything down.”
“Pep already told me and so did Valverde. I saw Luis Enrique suffer… We have a problem in terms of demands. It’s not enjoyable, you risk your life every moment,” said Xavi. In the last two months, the coach suffered three ultimatums, “key weeks,” as described by the club’s leadership. The first, when he had to earn a place in the round of 16 of the Champions League and later received Atlético and Girona. Barça passed the test, but the defeat against Míchel’s team was shocking. The second was the Super Cup. He was punished. The third, he didn’t get over it. After the loss against Athletic (Cup) and the win against Villarreal, Xavi said enough. “I completely understand it,” Guardiola subscribed to Xavi’s words; “The pressure in Barcelona is not comparable with any other club.” Since the Santpedor coach left the Camp Nou, the following have passed through the Barça bench: Vilanova (2012-2013), Martino (2013-2014), Luis Enrique (2014-2017), Valverde (2017-2020), Setién (2020) , Koeman (2020-2021) and Xavi (2021-2024). Seven in 12 years.
Xavi, at least, has the consolation of the warmth of the squad. “I knew there was unity, but I was surprised by the calls, the messages, the words, those who came to talk… I care about human quality. They have made me excited,” said Xavi. Lewandowski, one of the most rebellious and lonely, devoted himself to the coaching staff and the locker room. On Sunday, the Pole was very affectionate with the coach and on Monday he organized a meal at his house for the entire squad. “The response has been spectacular,” stressed the Barça coach.
Xavi has not yet said goodbye and is already thinking about returning, hoping that the passage of time will heal the wounds, perhaps trapped by a dream that has turned into a nightmare: “I don’t rule out returning. I have already said it many times: I am a club man and the club will have me available for whatever it needs. But now he doesn’t need me.”
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