Laporta and of the club and the team if the president and the coach took “two or three minutes” to agree after months of waiting and hours of live broadcast of changing and difficult to interpret conversations between the Ciudad Deportiva and Laporta’s home. We already know what happens with managers and intermediaries, and even more so in the case of FC Barcelona.
It could very well be that there is no president more Barcelona than Laporta nor a coach more culé than Xavi. It is even very possible that there is not a single partner willing to take over the management of the entity at such a delicate moment other than Laporta. It is also likely that the majority of coaches would set conditions for sitting on the bench and would not accept “adjustments” from the sports area unlike what happened with Xavi. Service to the cause demanded a certain emphasis and an exercise in illusion that became an act of illusion typical of an entity that has been moving with levers since 2021.
Now it was a matter of waiting for Xavi to change his mind, because rectifying is wise, as it has been, to give Laporta more reason. There was no disagreement, “neither of egos nor of money” but rather “circumstances have changed” even though Barça lost again, just as happened in January when the coach announced his resignation after a 3-5 defeat. against Villarreal. Nor has the environment changed, which “will be just as cruel and unpleasant,” Xavi predicts. Now, however, he feels with more strength and energy and his retreat has become “the best decision” and “the most coherent” in the words of Laporta.
Although the appearance and the perception that the president and the coach have of Barça life is as surprising as it is debatable, the majority of Barcelona fans do not seem to even flinch, between resigned, tired and conformist, aware that they have been wrong since the transfer of the team to Montjuïc. Only 17,500 renewed their season tickets and, therefore, there are more than 60,000 on leave waiting until December to return to the new Camp Nou and act as full members of Barça. The Olympic stadium has become an ordeal for Xavi’s team and has been a relief for Laporta’s board.
Nobody has looked at the box and the dedication of the most enthusiastic fans has been so unconditional that they even confused the Barça bus with the PSG bus. So there is no choice but to buy time with the sentimental gas until the return to the stadium before the end of the year or at the beginning of 2025. Plenty of time to govern with the sign of “Esteem to Barça”. The culé fan attends and watches the series in the waiting room without being able to discern between reality and fiction, also excited by the VAR. In the eyes of the viewer, it is not very clear what has happened to Xavi and the coach’s continuity seems more like a decision out of necessity than out of the conviction of Laporta’s board.
The president and the coach are convinced that it will turn out well and that they did everything possible so that all Barcelona fans believed them while waiting for the next episode that will be broadcast on Monday: Barça-Valencia. That Xavi changes his mind is not exactly a problem for Laporta.
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