Joan Laporta distrusted Xavi. And he had no hesitation in assuming it publicly, despite the friendship that, according to both parties, they maintained. “I think he should have a little more mileage beforehand. Now the club requires experience,” explained the current president during the 2021 campaign. At that time, the Barça bench was in the hands of another Barcelona legend, Ronald Koeman, not to Laporta’s liking either. In fact, when Barça could not find a game or results, ninth in the League, six points behind the leader, Real Madrid, the top manager struck down the Dutchman. He had no plan B. Deco, today sports director, at that time a good advisor to Barça, suggested the name of Xavi Hernández: “he has the back, he knows the club and the environment.” In November 2021, Xavi replaced Koeman. Four months later, in March 2022, Barcelona beat Madrid at the Bernabéu: “We’re back,” the Blaugrana celebrated at that time. “When you win 0-4 at the Bernabéu and with those feelings, it is logical that you say things like that Barça is back,” reflected Xavi. Two years later, Barça returns to Chamartín (9:00 p.m., Movistar) trapped in time: Xavi has already announced that he is leaving the club and Laporta still has not found a coach.
As soon as he returned to the presidency, Laporta’s idea was to bet on a German coach. Among his preferences were Hansi Flick, Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel. He also threatened to incorporate Andrea Pirlo, today at Sampdoria, eighth in Italian Serie B. He was quick to dismiss it.
Today Laporta is thinking again about the German route, influenced by his friend and representative Pini Zahavi, Flick’s agent. The locker room, however, does not look favorably on the former Bayern Munich coach, Champions League champion in 2020. “That’s why Xavi stays. His training, from what we are told, is not very good. And he doesn’t speak Spanish or English,” says one of the veterans of the Barça squad.
Flick, in any case, is not ruled out. Laporta listened to his personal advisors and looked at Roberto de Zerbi’s Brighton. He didn’t convince him. The name of Rafa Márquez, the current board’s bet for Barça Atlètic (second, six points behind Deportivo in the Primera RFEF), has always been on the table and is winning again. The Mexican accepts the challenge. “I think you can’t say no to an opportunity like that. And if he arrives, at that moment, I will try to be available and try to do my best,” he said when he found out that Xavi had announced that he would leave Barcelona at the end of the season. While Jorge Mendes, present in the Barça transfer markets since Laporta returned, insists on putting some of his protégés on the Barça bench, such as Sérgio Conceição (Porto) and even Jose Mourinho, Deco, Barça sports director, likes Thiago Motta (Bologna), but he is more seduced by the idea of a coach like Luis Enrique. “Reality says that it is very difficult to cross our paths. Now they will need a coach, but I have a rule of thumb to fulfill my contracts,” the Asturian ruled out.
Although he considers (and thus made it clear) that he represents the Barça style better than Xavi – “without a doubt me”, he stuck out his chest –, Luis Enrique is clear about who has to be in charge in the Montjuïc locker room. “I hope and wish that Xavi continues to be the Barça coach for many more years, but it is not my decision.” A premise that Laporta and his hard core somehow agree with. And so they say it, sometimes jokingly, sometimes seriously, to the coach every time they come across him.
Xavi, for his part, is not used to being too categorical about fulfilling his decision to leave the club. Although there are people around him who insist that he leave — “A sabbatical, no; two,” they advise him—, Xavi is more ambiguous: “Today, nothing has changed.” He always has the same tagline: “Today.”
“Do you plan to meet with Laporta this next week to talk about his continuity?” Xavi was asked before the classic. “There is no meeting. “They have not summoned me,” he resolved. And immediately afterwards, he finished: “And that’s not important. We are playing for the LaLiga title. If we don’t win, it will be very difficult.” After PSG kicked him out of the Champions League last Tuesday in the quarterfinals, a defeat at the Bernabéu would mark the end of an irregular season in the game, without sporting successes. The farewell of the Catalan coach, however, seems up in the air. Two years after the “we are back” of Xavi and company, Laporta returns to the Bernabéu (with the “desire to see you again”, according to his campaign poster that Madrid posted) as his return to Barça began: without being clear about his coach .
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