Spanish football

Barcelona coach, Xavi Hernández, appeared in the press room of the Joan Gamper Sports City, along with Joan Laporta, to talk about the reasons for his continuity. Both responded to the questions that arose in recent days about who would replace him, especially after the defeat in the Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu and the elimination from the Champions League at home.

Hernández said that although in January he considered that the team required a change and that is why he announced that he would say goodbye at the end of the season and said “I don’t want to be a hindrance to the club”, this time made him recognize the need to continue leading.

Both protagonists had to clear up many unknowns at the hearing. The most relevant, perhaps, is to explain the reasons why the Catalan coach has finally decided to fulfill his contract until June 2025, something that on January 27, after a tough defeat against Villarreal (3-5), seemed like a chimera. , since Xavi assured that even if he won the Champions League he would not continue as technical director.

Although in January he declared that he would leave the Barcelona bench at the end of the season, Xavi Hernández has decided to continue and at least finish the remaining year of his contract. (Photo: EFE). (Quique García/EFE)

Why does Xavi Hernández stay at Barcelona?

“It is wise to rectify,” the Barça coach repeated on several occasions throughout the appearance, who acknowledged that the delayed resignation at the end of January was perhaps a “wrong” decision because now he feels the opposite and believes that the project “It has not finished”.

The Barça coach sees himself “with strength”, despite the fact that he is convinced that the environment “will continue to be cruel, unpleasant in the adverse situations” that the team will have to overcome in the future.

”The most important thing is to think about the entity. When we met with the president, I put my position at his disposal, but then I found great trust from the president, the sports area and the entire board,” he argued.

Xavi assured that the support of his technical team has also been very important, as well as “the complicity of the players”, who have made him see that “this project has to continue.”

However, the coach stated that the decision to continue is irrevocable, regardless of how the season ends: “I have an intact commitment, what happened in January will not happen again.”

The coach, who was accompanied in the press room by his two assistants, Sergio Alegre and his brother Óscar, denied the information that, throughout Wednesday, suggested that his continuity was conditional on a series of changes in the coaching staff. . “There won’t be any changes to the staff,” he said.

What did Joan Laporta say about the continuity of Xavi Hernández?

Although there will be no changes in the coaching staff as had been speculated, president Joan Laporta highlighted in his speech that “both the sports management and the coach will work to improve what needs to be improved.”

”We think that this season, despite not having achieved the objectives, there are positive things. I see that the project is intact in terms of confidence and enthusiasm. There will be some adjustments, but I am not going to give pleasure to those who want to blow everything up for not having achieved the objectives this season,” he added.

The president was especially “happy” for the continuity of the Catalan coach – “I have always wanted him to continue”, he pointed out – and revealed that there were no discrepancies about the decision with his fellow board members, with whom he met the same Wednesday before to see Xavi.”

At the board meeting we did not vote on Xavi’s continuity because I was pending a meeting with him. I explained the situation. Yesterday he rushed in, Deco called me who was with Xavi and we met. When it was clear that Xavi wanted to continue, I called all the managers, all of them congratulated me and encouraged me because it is the best decision. “We were all unanimously satisfied with this decision,” he noted.

The event ended with the protagonists of the appearance, all the members of the sports leadership – the vice president, Rafael Yuste, the advisor Enric Masip, the sports director, Anderson dA Souza Deco, the youth football coordinator, Bojan Krkic, and the manager Joan Soler – and Xavi Hernández’s assistants joining hands and posing in front of the media in a show of unity.