Xavi Hernandez Feels Underappreciated For His Efforts At Barcelona

Xavi Hernandez, who was dismissed as the manager of Barcelona, expressed his disappointment as he felt his efforts were not properly appreciated. The team concluded the season with a 2-1 victory against Sevilla on Sunday.

Xavi Hernandez, who signed a three-year contract with Barcelona after Ronald Koeman departed in 2021, guided the Catalan club to their 27th league championship last season. In his tenure, he accumulated 90 victories, 23 draws, and 29 losses in 142 matches. However, he was dismissed on Friday.

“I have the feeling that everything I have done in these two and a half years has caused an earthquake. I have been targeted many times in many situations,” Xavi said.

“I think that the work has not been sufficiently appreciated. This year we haven’t been up to the task because of details. We had four key games in which we couldn’t finish the good work we had done,” he added.

LaLiga runners-up Barcelona in LaLiga this season, trailed Real Madrid by 10 points. They faced a challenging campaign, suffering defeats to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final, elimination by Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, and a Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals as ell.

Xavi initially chose to resign in January but later agreed to stay in April following discussions with President Joan Laporta. However, Laporta had a change of heart and dismissed him after a season without winning any trophies.

“It is not for me to say the reasons or the motives. I think it is up to the president to say them. I had no choice but to accept it. It doesn’t matter if I agree with the arguments. I’m not leaving with a sense of relief because we wanted to continue. These are decisions made by the club. We understood and respected that, but we thought it wasn’t over,” he added.

Xavi acknowledged that although he didn’t agree with his departure, he recognized the magnitude of the club, emphasizing that the next coach would face a challenging task.

“He should know that he has a tough situation because Barca is a challenging club but on top of that it is in an adverse economic situation. It will not be an easy task,” he said.

“I would like to tell the new coach that he will suffer and that he should be patient, it’s a very complicated position. The only thing that will save the new coach is winning”. He added