MADRID (AP) — Barcelona are sticking with Xavi Hernandez amid displays of support despite the coach’s decision to leave at the end of the season.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta said on Sunday he would not make coaching changes and expects Xavi to remain fully committed despite not returning next season.
President met the coach and team The next day Xavi said he would leave, The coach’s announcement came after the team’s 5-3 defeat at home to Villarreal in the Spanish league on Saturday.
“Xavi told me he would leave at the end of the season, but he wanted to finish the season, and it’s a formula I accept because he was the one who proposed it to me, and he is a Barcelona legend, ” Laporta said. “He is an honest person, works with dignity and loves Barça. “I accept it because I know he will be fully committed until the end of the season.”
After the defeat to Villarreal, Barcelona is 11 points behind Spanish league leader Verona and 10 points behind second-placed Real Madrid. The Catalan club had already been relegated by Athletic Bilbao Copa del Rey quarter-finals and lost 4-1 to Madrid Spanish Super Cup Final,
“It will be difficult to win the league, but it is not impossible,” Laporta said. “We have to compete till the end and see what happens. We will need the support of our fans so that we can try to win the Champions League. We will go step by step. With everyone’s commitment, I believe we can still reach some of the goals we set for the season.
Barcelona faces Napoli in the round of 16 of the Champions League, a competition in which it has failed to progress beyond the group stage in the last two seasons, and not since Lionel Messi was still with the club.
Laporta said nothing about the search for Xavi’s replacement. The club is struggling financially and is not in a good position to sign new players.
Laporta called for “unity” and thanked the club’s fans for their support despite a “complex season”, which included a transfer to the Montjuic stadium while the Camp Nou was undergoing extensive remodeling.
Barcelona said Xavi met with his players before training on Sunday and explained his decision to leave.
The coach said on Saturday that “as a Barcelona fan” he “cannot let this situation continue” and that the team needed “a change of course and dynamics”.
He said that the decision to leave at the end of the season was made before the defeat to Villarreal, although the defeat helped hasten the announcement. He hoped that his decision would reduce the stress on the team and those around him.
“The feeling of being Barcelona’s coach is cruel, unpleasant, you feel like you don’t get the respect you deserve,” Xavi said. “It tires you out, affects your mental health, your emotions, to the extent that you say you can’t go on. My loved ones know this.”
former star midfielder returned to barcelona His only experience at the helm as a coach came during his stint in Qatar in November 2021. His contract was due to expire at the end of the next season.
Barcelona’s next league match is at home to midtable Osasuna on Wednesday before the clash at Alaves on Saturday.
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