The Blaugrana boss helped the famous club win again against the odds, and can leave Catalunya with a sense of achievement
"I will leave Barcelona in June. We have reached a point of no return. It's time for change. As a Cule, I think that it's time to leave."
Those were the words of Xavi, who on Saturday evening announced his intent to depart Barcelona at the end of the season. It was a dignified statement, a mature sentiment from a club that has been dragged into cheap quips and shameless social media jibes in recent months.
In isolation, this could perceived as cowardly and a premature exit for one of Barcelona's favourite sons. Zoom out, and it all makes a lot of sense; Barcelona are fourth in La Liga, 11 points off the top, out of the cup and facing a tough draw in the Champions League. They won the Spanish top flight for the first time in four years last season, collecting 88 points in doing so. Continue at this rate, and they will end the season with a respectable 80. But for a team that was supposed to kick on, being three losses worse off than the year before is simply too much. Throw in the fact that this is Barcelona – the club of Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola and Johan Cruyff – and Xavi couldn't keep his job while losing so many games, at least not beyond the end of the campaign.
There is some honour to be found in all of this. Xavi will not be hailed for leaving the club, nor will he be begged to stay. His decision to depart has been begrudgingly accepted by club president Joan Laporta, a conversation that was presumably followed by massive sighs of relief for both parties.
There is a lot of football left to play this season, with plenty of twists and turns to come. But Xavi has negotiated his exit with grace and, after winning a precious La Liga title last year, can depart his dream gig with dignity — even if he should have taken this side so much further.
(C)Getty ImagesTaking over an impossible situation
Xavi understood what it meant. He was, as the manager of Qatar's Al Sadd, technically an outsider. But he had never really left Barcelona. He preferred to speak Catalan. He came through La Masia and won 22 trophies in blue and red, gloriously returning to a club that was an expensive dinner away from filing for bankruptcy.
It had been bad for a few months. Ronald Koeman could have been relieved of his duties at the end of the 2020-21 season, only to save his job with a Copa del Rey win. The loss of Messi to PSG, largely thanks to crumbling finances, put Koeman's job in even more danger. And a miserable start to the next campaign sealed his fate. By the end of October, the noise was too much, with Koeman even confronted in his car by disgruntled fans after a 2-1 Clasico defeat. He was sacked less than a month later.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, the managerial post at Barca was not a valuable job. A glittering era — one that started with tiki-taka and ended with 'MSN' — had come to a close. Barca didn't have Messi, Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez, or any money to attempt to replace them. But Xavi knew the club. He played both with and for Guardiola. He had made public his desire to be Barca manager in the past. And with new president Joan Laporta eager to emphasise his connection to the fans, it seemed a perfect match.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesA difficult few months
Xavi arrived as a hero. The club legend had returned, ready to build this team anew. He had his little proteges in Gavi and Pedri. He had his projects in Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araujo. And he had his old friend around, too, with Dani Alves making a baffling return to the fold as a free agent.
The novelty soon wore off. Champions League success was a priority, with Barca needing to win at least one of their last two games in the group stage to make it to the last 16. A 0-0 draw at home to Benfica — a fixture that Barca were lucky to avoid defeat in — set up a final-day showdown with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. Xavi's side didn't put a single shot on target in a 3-0 loss, and suffered the ignominy of tumbling into the Europa League.
Barca drifted through the next few months. They turned their league form around slightly and made a push towards the top of the table — only to be pegged back by draws against Granada and Espanyol. It all ended with a Europa League semi-final exit to a rampant Frankfurt side, with the Blaugrana conceding three goals at home to crash out of the competition that was an expected consolation prize.
"It is a very big disappointment. It's a shame because we had hopes in this competition," the manager admitted after the defeat. This was not going to be an easy job, and Xavi had seen as much first-hand.
GettyGlory!
Then came the investment. Koeman had gone public in his plea for Barca to spend in the summer of 2021. Laporta, having just taken the helm, refused and instead gave the then-manager very few resources to work with.
For Xavi, though, Laporta proved he was willing to do anything. The lever-pulling summer of 2022 – a period in which Barcelona made a series of short-term financial deals that mortgaged the future of the club – helped rebuild an ailing squad.
After a series of shady agreements to raise cash, Xavi went about assembling a side that could compete for the league title. Robert Lewandowski, a world-class striker, arrived. Raphinha was added for an attacking punch. Jules Kounde sauntered through the Camp Nou doors in the name of defensive stability. Andreas Christensen added smarts at the back, while the retention of De Jong in central midfield rounded everything off.
Barca's La Liga-winning season wasn't defined by its champagne football, but the Blaugrana brought home the title comfortably, relying on Europe's most efficient defence to scrap their way to a trophy. It all happened in front of an uncomfortable backdrop. Barca were constantly warring with La Liga about club finances. Unsavoury allegations about a secretive scheme to pay senior refereeing officials also came to light. Catalan media seemed more interested to know if Xavi wanted to re-sign Messi than interrogate him about the success of the team.
Xavi, in retrospect, deserves immense credit for weathering that storm. He won ugly, under difficult circumstances, while doing his best to quieten the chatter surrounding the club. It was not an easy thing to do. And Barca were back.
GettyThe sudden decline
Or so we all thought…
It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment where it all went wrong for Xavi. That's perhaps because there were so many minor faults, and concerning signs. There was the Europa League last-16 loss to a weakened Manchester United side a year ago; there was the uptick in goals conceded over the final months of the 2022-23 season — and the Lewandowski scoring drought that accompanied it.
It was perhaps ominous that both Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba walked at the end of the season; it was even more concerning that neither player was ever truly replaced (Oriol Romeu doesn't count). A look at the Barca squad suggests they strengthened in areas that didn't need much work, and ignored key positions. Ilkay Gundogan, match-winner that he is, did not need to be added to a squad rife with box-to-box midfielders. Joao Cancelo, a mercurial right-back with limited defensive capability, never figured to complement the rest of Xavi's bruising backline.
And that imperfect squad went about dropping points in the areas that you might expect. Too often this season, the Blaugrana have been outrun in midfield, and overwhelmed in defence. The signs were there early; Barca conceded three against Villarreal in late August, and two against 10-man Mallorca a month later. They have allowed three goals in the first minute in all competitions — as many as the previous 18 seasons combined.
Alarm bells about the safety of Xavi's position were first ceremoniously rung in November, after a 1-0 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. A nervy win over Porto didn't alleviate concerns. On December 10, though, the wheels fell off, as Barca were outclassed 4-2 at home by Girona — a thrashing that showed just how big the gap is between the league leaders and their lowly neighbours in a unfathomable role reversal.