The partnership has come to an end as Barcelona have finally decided to sack coach Xavi Hernandez, 44.
The club announced the news of his dismissal on the club’s official website on Thursday. “Xavi Hernandez will no longer be in charge of Barcelona after the end of the season. President Juan Laporta has informed Xavi that he will not be in charge of the first team in the 2024-25 season,” the club officially announced.
Xavi is a Barcelona legend. During his 18-year career at Barcelona, from 1997 to 2015, Xavi scored 85 goals and provided 185 assists in 767 appearances, earning him a place among the club’s legends. He then spent four more years at Al Sadd in Qatar before retiring from the game, and after two years as a manager, he was hired by Barcelona in 2021.
He led Barcelona to the top of the Spanish La Liga in the 2022-23 season and also won the Supercopa de España.
However, Barcelona has been disappointing under Xavi this season. They’re currently second in the league, 12 points behind archrivals Real Madrid with a game in hand, and have lost the title. In the UEFA Champions League, they were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Paris Saint-Germain in a stunning upset, and they were also unsuccessful in cup competitions.
In January, Xavi announced his resignation, taking responsibility for the team’s poor performance. “I will only lead the team until the end of this season and will no longer be the coach of Barcelona,” he said, adding that he was “not going to reverse my decision.”
But the club’s top brass still wanted him to stay, and they 안전놀이터 continued to talk to him, even going so far as to try to convince the players to stay, and last month he reversed his decision and agreed to stay.
But then things went south again. Xavi made a series of disparaging remarks to Barcelona president Laporta, citing the club’s current financial difficulties and the difficulty in recruiting players. Laporta was furious, as was the club’s hierarchy.
Eventually, Barcelona decided to fire Xavi again. The current favorite to replace him is Hanji Flick, who has previously coached Bayern Munich and the German national team.