As Xavi Hernandez signed off his glittering enjoying profession at Barcelona with a second European treble in 2015, he had a message for the tearful crowd: “I hope this is not a goodbye however a ‘see you quickly’.”
Xavi’s shock announcement that he could be stepping down as Barcelona supervisor on the finish of the season carried a way of aid, from all events concerned, that screamed good riddance slightly than goodbye.
Hours earlier, the Catalan giants had slumped to a unprecedented 5-3 defeat at house to relegation-threatened Villarreal. After overturning a two-goal deficit to steer 3-2, Barcelona shipped an 84th-minute equaliser earlier than imploding in stoppage time. Simply three days earlier, Xavi’s facet had been spat out on the fallacious facet of one other bonkers contest, limping out of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals by the hands of Athletic Membership.
Nevertheless, Xavi’s delayed resignation had been within the submit. Because the beleaguered supervisor admitted: “I had my thoughts made up for days.” However how did the prodigal son’s return bitter?
Forward of the Catalan derby that sealed the Spanish top-flight title for Barcelona final Might, Xavi took a second to recognise the “elementary” function performed by these behind the scenes, singling out the membership’s director of soccer, Mateu Alemany, and sporting director, Jordi Cruyff. By the beginning of September, each figures had left Barcelona.
Deco has assumed full management of the membership’s transfers and has been repeatedly accused of getting a frosty relationship with Xavi after the pair supposedly butted heads on some arrivals final summer season.
There have additionally been rising whispers of Xavi’s run-ins with membership president Joan Laporta. Barcelona’s present figurehead appointed Xavi as supervisor in November 2021 however was reluctant, particularly after the previous midfielder publicly backed Victor Font within the presidential elections which Laporta in the end received. With out Alemany and Cruyff, there’s not the identical pleasant buffer for Xavi to fall again upon.
The opening weeks of Xavi’s reign had been pockmarked by the Spanish press consistently referring to the coach’s ‘flor’ (flower) – a shortening of the idiom ‘Tener una flor en el culo’ (To have a flower rising out of your bottom) which implies getting fortunate.
Xavi had some success to beat each Espanyol and Villarreal however after shedding 1-0 to Actual Betis he joked: “The flower is over, it is throughout.” With hindsight, the great luck had solely actually simply begun.
Barcelona’s title winners weren’t the aesthetic supreme Xavi’s grand philosophy had imagined. A workforce with extra grit than glitz received 11 league video games 1-0, mainly as a result of impressed type of goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Not solely has the German returned to the realm of terrestrials this time period, however he is been injured since November.
There have been no sort flowers on the sharp finish of the pitch for Barcelona this season. No workforce in La Liga has underperformed their anticipated objectives by a bigger margin than the Catalans.
It could have been written off as extra winging from Xavi on the time, however he was correct along with his evaluation of Barcelona’s wayward ending after dropping factors to Valencia in December. “We should be one of many worst groups in Europe by way of effectiveness,” the flowerless coach sighed.
Earlier than Xavi arrived at his delayed press convention after the Villarreal debacle, Frenkie de Jong staunchly defended his supervisor. “There’s full religion within the mister, the teaching employees are doing good work,” the Dutchman insisted, “we gamers are in charge, we have now the expertise. If folks can not see that, then it’s our fault.”
It’s all too typically the destiny of a supervisor that they’re ignored in victory and blamed in defeat. But, the overwhelming variety of Barcelona gamers which have endured a collective dip in type this time period closely hints at a misstep from the determine making the personnel and tactical choices.
Xavi’s system at Barcelona hasn’t a lot developed as devolved right into a shapeless mess.
Ilias Akhomach began Xavi’s first-ever recreation for Barcelona however put Villarreal 2-0 up on Saturday night time. The fleet-footed winger had been introduced in as a part of the crushing significance Xavi placed on width above all else. But, throughout Barcelona’s title-winning marketing campaign final time period, Xavi settled on a field midfield with just one extensive participant seeking central numerical superiority.
The departure of Sergio Busquets – and Oriol Romeu’s doomed try at changing him – coupled with key accidents to Barcelona’s remaining midfielders has typically robbed Xavi of this selection.
The collection of trials and errors which have been scrubbed on and off the Barcelona blackboard has taken away any sense of rhythm for the Catalans. De Jong can begin with himself when stating the faults of Barcelona’s gamers. Pedri and Alejandro Balde have unmistakably regressed. Ronald Araujo, as soon as so dependable, is liable to drop a clanger at any given second.
Araujo was on the centre of Xavi’s newest high-profile tactical blunder. The towering Uruguayan has man-marked Vinicius Junior in every Clasico underneath Xaxi and was stationed at right-back as soon as once more for the Supercopa de Espana last towards Actual Madrid in January. But, Vinicius has performed a central function all season for Madrid and so was nowhere close to Araujo when he fired the capital membership right into a 2-0 lead after ten minutes. By the point Araujo received shut sufficient to the Brazilian, he gave away a penalty and received himself despatched off. Not all of that’s Xavi’s fault, however he did not assist his gamers in that humbling 4-1 loss.
One other supervisor leaving their function on the finish of the season, Xavi will step down from his place at Barcelona! 👀
— 90min (@90min_Football) January 28, 2024
Few people preach from the altar of the Cruyffian church with as a lot conviction as Xavi. The previous Barcelona captain isn’t sluggish to espouse Johan Cruyff’s enjoying beliefs however has additionally taken on board the Dutchman’s distaste for the Spanish press.
Cruyff known as the neverending scrutiny round Barcelona the membership’s ‘entorno’. On numerous events, Xavi has insisted that this swirling vortex makes Barcelona “essentially the most troublesome membership to handle on the planet”. In the end, the stress has confirmed an excessive amount of.
“It is a merciless job,” Xavi admitted to clarify his departure. “It wears you down. In Barcelona you all the time really feel such as you’re not valued, you are mistreated… that is how the membership works. From a psychological well being perspective, it is robust, too. I am a constructive man, however the battery ranges preserve operating out… and in some unspecified time in the future, you realise there is not any level in staying.”
