Xavi: “A pity that James played for Madrid and not for Barcelona”

Xavi Hernandez, Barcelona coachwas a guest at the launch of Kings of World, a series of LaLiga collectibles. There he spoke about several players with whom he has a weakness and among them is James Rodríguez, today at Olympiacos in Greece and who played 4 seasons with Real Madrid. The coach would have liked to see him play with the Catalan team.

“James is capable of scoring tremendous goals for you from short and long distances, He has a privileged left foot. It’s a shame that he played for Real Madrid and not for Barcelona”Xavi commented. The coach, in his time as a Barça player, once faced James while playing for Madrid. That match, played in October 2014, ended 3-1 in favor of the white team.

Xavi also highlighted three other Latin American players, Diego Forlán, Rafael Márquez and Claudio Bravo, the latter two of his teammates at Barcelona. “I always wanted to sign him because he has talent, quality and personality. The character that makes you make a difference and has dominated all registers: right, left, head, speed, talent ”, said about the former Uruguayan striker, his rival with both Villarreal and Atlético de Madrid.

Xavi had already talked about James in Qatar

In October of last year, when James Rodríguez had been in Al Rayyan for a few days, Xavi also referred to him. At that time the Spanish DT was in charge of Al Sadd. It was prior to the Emir Cup final.

“The arrival of players like Cazorla, Gabi at the time, Brahimi, James Rodríguez now, they are players who are going to make a difference but they are also going to contribute their quality to the collective game of the team (…) The arrival of this type of footballer is very good for the country in general, not only for their teams, for Al Rayyan or Al Sadd, but for the football organization chart in Qatar because in the end everyone improves”, Xavi said.

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currently Xavi’s Barcelona is the leader of LaLiga in Spain with a difference of 2 points over Real Madrid. The competition will resume on the last weekend of December and on that fifteenth day there will be a Catalan classic.