The first full season on one of the hottest benches in the world of football and an immediate title for Xavi Hernandez. But not without problems. On the contrary. The former ace, and now the head of the coaching staff of Barcelona, in an extensive and honest interview with the Catalan TV3, admits that the burden of Blaugrana simply “crushes” people. In the young coach’s case, it puts the pressure of being compared to Pep Guardiola, and forces you to make difficult decisions, such as removing legends such as Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba from the team, which is why the latter got angry.On top of all that, the scandals surrounding the payments to referees, the constant talk of Lionel Messi’s return – which Pique himself hopes for – the disappointing elimination in the Champions League group stage…Barcelona’s African star boy nails a jaw-dropping screamer you’ll watch on repeat (VIDEO)Xavi says openly – it is not easy. Even so – he survived, and there are already rumors about negotiations for a new contract. Barca would like to oblige him to stay, given that his current contract expires in June next year.”We will find an understanding sooner or later. The management will try their best and there will be no problem. We will extend the contract and I hope to continue here for many more years”, Xavi is calm about that.And we should not forget that he came in a far from a pleasant situation. Barca as a whole was suffering from severe financial problems. When Joan Laporta became president again in 2021, many foresaw better days for the Catalan giant. Two years later, Barcelona’s first man seems to have brought back the championship mentality with financial bravado. Xavi just marked Laporta as a key man in the club’s revival.”The president is the leader of this project. When he came, the club was hopeless in terms of sport and economy. We are in the second year after the departure of Messi and we have suffered a lot. Laporta is a very brave person, exudes confidence and security, has charisma and we all feel like family”.‼️ Xavi to TV3: “I told Pique to step aside, that he would play less. It was hard for me because we enjoyed a lot together – but the team comes first” #FCB 🤝🚨 pic.twitter.com/cFCKN87Ngp— Reshad Rahman (@ReshadRahman_) May 30, 2023 The former Barcelona player took over the team in 2021 and thus reminded many of Pep Guardiola. The head of the coaching staff of Manchester City had a similar path as Xavi, he was once a famous midfielder of the Catalan club, and then took his first coaching steps in his former club. In Barcelona, he made huge successes, established himself as one of the best experts today, so Guardiola’s shadow will follow Xavi as long as he is in Barca.”The figure of Pep Guardiola burdens me as a coach, which I don’t think is fair. It already happened to me when I was a football player, but everyone has to turn a new page”.It wasn’t all ‘milk and honey’ in Xavi’s first full season as Barcelona’s strategist. When you are a coach, you have to deal with defeats, it is especially difficult when you are on the bench of a big club like Blaugrana.”Sometimes you feel that you let the fans down. When you lose 0-3 and have to take the kids to school, get back in the car and admit that you are ashamed of the defeat. The burden of Barca crushes people. Although the fans almost never booed us. On the day of the match with Bayern, when we were officially eliminated from the Champions League, we had to go out to thank them and that’s when I noticed a spectacular change – we gained even more support from the fans”.##NAJAVA_MECA_7292188##One of the heavy defeats came in La Liga against the great rival Real Madrid. That 1-3 defeat set off an alarm for everyone at the club. Xavi knew how to overcome this defeat and use it as motivation for the rest of the season.”After the defeat at Bernabeu, I held a meeting with the team and asked the rest of the coaching staff to leave me alone with the players, because I saw in that game that they lacked heart. There was no desire, effort, respect and attitude that I was looking for from day one. I noticed that something was wrong with the team, we met and said everything to each other’s faces, which brought us closer than ever”.CORRUPTION, MALVERSATION AND THE AFTER-MESSI ERAThere were also non-football-related problems. The problems with the corruption of the top people of Barcelona still hover over Camp Nou. The latest problem that hit the Catalan club is the “Negreira case”, the new champion of Spain was accused of paying bribes to referees. Despite that, the good results on the field continued.”We suffered a lot because of the explosion of problems that hit us as an institution. We know that we never paid the referees off, the enemy charge was heavy on all fields, but instead of destabilizing us, it brought us closer as a group”.All these problems followed the parting with Lionel Messi two years ago. The departure of, for many, the best in the history of football initiated dark days for the Catalans. However, Barca survived, and the Argentinian’s displeasure in Paris undoubtedly fueled the hopes of everyone at the club that they could bring him back. Xavi knows that there are a lot of factors in the whole equasion and is cautiously hoping for the arrival of his former teammate.”Everything depends on Messi, if he wants to come to Barcelona, we will do everything for him to come back. The conditions are there, he would help us a lot at the football level, but there are other factors, personal and economic. I have a friendly relationship with Leo, we congratulated each other on the trophies, he always watches Barca, and I watch Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain. We are considering his transfer, which could bring us a lot, even financially. Many fans want him back and chant his name, but it depends 99 percent on him”.🎙️ Xavi 🚨🚨 “Messi’s arrival depends a lot on Leo himself. All Catalans love Messi, he is the best player in history” pic.twitter.com/ms66gbufSf— Leo Messi 🔟 Fan Club (@WeAreMessi) May 29, 2023 This season was definitely a turning point for Barcelona. At the very beginning, Pique retired, and at the end, Alba and Sergio Busquets danced their last steps at the Camp Nou stadium. The Catalan coach understands the importance of the club’s legends and sympathizes with their situation. He himself was in a similar situation when he was nearing the end of his playing career.”When you have to make decisions that don’t allign with the wishes of the players, it can be difficult. I told Pique to step aside, that he would play less. It was hard for me because we enjoyed a lot together – but the team comes first. It was the same with Jordi Alba, you have the feeling that you are a bad friend, but you have to know that the team is the priority. The same thing happened to me with Luis Enrique, at that moment you don’t understand because you played for years as a starter. Jordi got angry, but later wrote in the group chat that he was 100 percent committed, as was Pique. They knew it was the right time to leave”.##NAJAVA_MECA_7292312##DOMINANT IN LA LIGA BUT NOT IN EUROPEIn domestic competitions, Xavi’s team did well, they dominantly won the title in the Primera Division and the Super Cup, but the problems in the Champions League were evident. The former no.6 of Barca also knows that better games are expected in Europe from the five-time winner of the elite competition.”We had the feeling that we couldn’t compete in Europe and that was hard for us, one of the worst feelings in my coaching career. We can’t digest it. We have to strive for all the trophies and strengthen ourselves”.A busy season that did not promise at the beginning – ended triumphantly. The standards of a club like Barcelona are always high, so Xavi will have big challenges in the next season as well. He is aware of that.”Great season, especially when I remember where we came from. We started in November 2021, we were ninth with a group in a semi-depressed state. People needed a season like that. The players were angry because I celebrated the most that we won La Liga. I suffered a lot during these two years. There was not enough support from the environment, which immediately positioned itself against us. I watch Catalan media and read local newspapers, they criticized the entire coaching staff for the whole situation. Barça is the most demanding club in the world, whatever you do is not enough and something always goes wrong,” Xavi concluded.Xavi was criticised for having a friendship with Busquets, Alba and Piqué… And all 3 left in Xavi’s first full season. pic.twitter.com/4lK13Whrad— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) May 24, 2023
