Friday, May 24, 2024, 1:48 p.m. | Updated 3:39 p.m.
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Xavi Hernández will not continue leading the Barcelona bench next season. Joan Laporta, president of the entity, and Deco, sports director, met with the Catalan coach after last week’s clashes to decide his dismissal as coach. The Terrasa coach’s time at the head of the culé club comes to a close with two titles, a League and a Spanish Super Cup, and he will say goodbye this weekend in the duel between them at the Sánchez-Pizjuán against Sevilla. An ending with more chapters than expected and that began at the end of January, when the strategist announced after a defeat against Villarreal in Montjuïc that he did not see himself prepared to lead the change of course that the team needed.
Only a month after the viral scene before the microphones of a packed press room, where the president ratified Xavi as coach for next year, everyone took the Catalan’s continuity for granted. «To rectify is wise. “I see myself with strength and ability,” Hernández rectified. Laporta was moved and they hugged. «I am left with the reaffirmation or confirmation that, as a coach, we have an extraordinary person with a culé feeling that he transmits. He transmits enthusiasm, confidence, generosity. Barcelona fans should be proud of the coach that Barça has,” Laporta stated at the end of April. Regarding his replacement, the culé entity has limited itself to pointing out that “it will report on the new structure of the first team in the coming days.” It is an open secret, however, that Hansi Flick will be the chosen one.
Everything caught fire again with Xavi’s statements in the previous match against Almería where he stated that “the situation is very difficult, especially on an economic level. The economic situation has nothing to do with what it was 25 years ago, when a coach came and said: ‘I want this one, this one and this one.’ The Barcelona fan has to understand it and we are going to adjust to that.
In an official statement, Barça thanked Xavi “for his work as a coach, which adds to an unparalleled career as a player and captain of the team” and wished him “all the luck in the world.” At the moment, Xavi has not spoken publicly. If nothing changes, the most likely thing is that he will do so this Saturday, at the press conference prior to the last Barcelona game of the season.
Hansi Flick, the one chosen by Laporta and Deco
Last Wednesday Laporta and Deco traveled to London to meet with the German coach. Although at the time of the meeting Xavi’s dismissal was not yet official, the culé board traveled to the English capital to discuss positions and find out the intentions of Flick and his agent, Pini Zahavi. The Heidelberg coach is Laporta’s favorite and is the one the Blaugrana sphere likes the most.
One of the main obstacles is economic. After the successes achieved by Flick with Bayern, the German’s cachet is very high. In just a year and a half at the head of the Bavarian bench, he managed to lift the Champions League, the Bundesliga and the German Cup. To that triplet he added the German Super Cup, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup. Therefore, together with Xavi’s termination, Barcelona will have to make a large outlay for him.
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2024-05-24 13:39:08
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