Xavi Hernández praises Gerard Piqué before his farewell at Camp Nou

“We had a conversation in the summer, I told him my intentions. It was one of the most difficult days of my career as a coach and now also, he was my teammate. It has happened to all of us, when a moment in which you don’t feel so useful, it’s not easy to manage. We knew that this week,” said the coach Culer. “For sure I had a big weight in his decision, but for the good of the club. I looked for the good of the club and the institution, but I have to make decisions, and it’s not easy. Sometimes it’s unpleasant, that’s why sometimes I’ve decided put another player in. I have to look at the best for the club,” he added.

Xavi wants Piqué’s last match at Camp Nou to be unforgettable. “Tomorrow is an extra motivation, his farewell, giving him the three points, that he leaves with good feelings. And that they applaud him and sing his name. Let it be a great day for the club and especially for Piqué. We want send Piqué off with good feelings. We want to play well to make the public enjoy themselves. Without him we lose leadership, commitment, courage… For me he is one of the great central players in history,” said the player from Egaren on who was his dressing room mate Now, as a coach, Xavi has confessed that their relationship has not changed, despite the fact that he now occupies the bench and has to make “difficult” decisions. “The relationship is the same as before, there is no bad relationship. I have to make decisions for the good of Barça. If you don’t appoint someone who has been everything for the club, it’s normal that there are people who don’t like him . It is not a relief, that Piqué is leaving now. I have no problem with him, he has always joined us. If he continued, he would continue to join us. I have no complaints with Gerard, it is his decision due to the circumstances and the conversation that we had in the summer”, he explained in a press conference. “He has earned the right to choose how and when, it’s his decision,” said the Barcelona coach.

Xavi is clear about the future of the centre-back: “President? He can be whatever he wants. There is plenty of capacity”. At the moment, the immediate future of the Catalan central depends on this Saturday’s match (9 p.m., DAZN) at the Camp Nou, in the last match he will play in the Blaugrana shirt in the Feud Culer. Xavi did not want to give hints about whether he will start in his farewell. What will be his last match as a Barça player, however, will be the one on November 8 against Osasuna, as Xavi has explained.