On a surreal and chaotic afternoon, worthy of the old Nuñista Barça, (with journalists standing guard at the meeting venues) Yesterday Joan Laporta sealed the continuity of Xavi until 2025 at a summit held at his private home.
Chaotic because the coach was away from the club for a few hours, as desired by certain sectors of the board, but, in the end, he stayed thanks to the decisive intervention of Alejandro Echevarriawho has no position in the entity, but has an increasingly greater influence.
And surreal because the president, who had planned a replacement from outside, on the side of the road Marquezsaid goodbye at the last moment to endorse Xavi, the only coach to say goodbye to himself in the contemporary history of Barça.
The five of January 27
He announced in January that he was leaving because it was “cruel” to be Barça’s coach. But then, coinciding with the team’s recovery that did not result in any title, he understood that there were arguments to continue in office.
Xavi Hernández greets Joan Laporta. / EFE
When he said he was leaving (“we are all calmer knowing that I have an expiration date and so am I!” he argued not even two weeks ago), he was giving up the salary for the remaining year of his contract. And that has also been a determining factor in maturing the change of decision, together with the possibility of leading that generation of young people that he promoted.
In the president’s house
A change accepted by the club, who had worked on the search for other coaches since last January, although the shortlist was reduced to Rafa Márquez and Hansi Flick, the first name that came up. But everything accelerated on a Wednesday that brought Barça closer to the times of Núñez.
Before, negotiations were carried out in the professional office of the then president (1978-2000), located on Urgell street. Now, everything happened in the private home of The door, located in the upper area of Barcelona. Although, in reality, it started in the sports city of Sant Joan Despí.
Xavi Hernández, Barcelona coach, in an appearance before the press. / Alejandro García / EFE
There they had met Xavi, that he had given free in the squad, with Deco, sports director and his direct boss. A little more than an hour into the meeting and then, each one separately, they left the premises to meet at the president’s house. Rafa Yuste, sports vice president, and Alejandro Echevarría were already there..
In other words, the same five people who were in the Montjuïc locker room on January 27 when the coach announced that he was leaving because it was necessary “a change of dynamic” in the club, with the aim of freeing the players, coincided again. .
Live for today
At that meeting, which lasted until dinner, with the staggered arrival of the other three members of the sports commission who were missing (Joan Soler, Bojan Krkic and Enric Masip). All of them were urgently summoned to attend the first major summit in which the news was held and the sports planning for the next season was designed. Although a sector of the board, which also met yesterday, thought that these were Xavi’s final hours. They all made mistakes.
Laporta heads to the Barça squad before Xavi, Yuste and Deco, in the dressing room of Sant Joan Despí. / FCB
They all made a mistake because in an improvised survival exercise, Laporta renounced one of his basic principles. “Losing at Barça has consequences,” the president used to say. But it has not been that way. The team has closed the season blank after leaving the Super Cup with Madrid (4-1 in Riyadh), the Cup with Athletic (4-2 in San Mamés), the Champions League with PSG (1-4 in Montjuïc) and the League with Madrid (3-2 at the Bernabéu). And three days after saying goodbye to everything, Laporta endorsed Xavi because the options he had around him did not satisfy him.
And the coach who resigned in January to leave in June will, however, continue for one more season completing a plot never seen before in the club, ignoring that “toxic” environment that made his life, according to him, impossible. Xavi wanted to continue. And he gets his way in a chaotic Barça that lives from day to day, improvising non-stop.
2024-04-25 05:20:39
#Laporta #Xavi
