BARCELONA: Xavi Hernández said Saturday that he is leaving Barcelona with “a clear conscience” that he did his best after the club decided to part ways with the former player, but that it will be up to president Joan Laporta to explain why he is going.
“These have obviously been tough days, but my conscience is clear,” head coach Xavi said.
“I have been here two-and-a-half years. It has not been easy. But I think that we can feel proud of the work we have done.”
In his first news conference since Barcelona announced on Friday that Xavi would not finish the final year of his contract, the 44-year-old said that he will now “take a break” from coaching.
His last game in charge will be at Sevilla on Sunday.
Xavi’s departure comes just one month after he had walked back a previous decision he made in January to leave the club this summer. In April, he said that he had changed his mind because the team was playing better, and he believed it could bounce back from a trophy-less campaign.
Laporta had publicly celebrated Xavi’s commitment to stay at that time. But last week the president was reportedly displeased when the head coach spoke openly about how the club’s poor finances would impede them from competing with fierce rival Real Madrid.
Neither Laporta nor any club official has said why they wanted Xavi to leave, and the head coach did not shed any light on the circumstances of his exit either.
“The president told me his reasons for why he thinks the club needs a change, and I can only respect that. I am a club man,” Xavi said. “We shook hands, hugged and wished one another the best. From now on I will be just another fan.
“He will have to explain his motives.”
Xavi’s only previous coaching job was at a Qatari club before Laporta brought him back to take over at Barcelona in November 2021. He led the team to the Spanish league title last year, their first major trophy since Lionel Messi left, and signed a one-year contract extension in September.
But Barcelona struggled to compete this campaign and they will finish the league a distant second to champion Madrid.
Spanish and German media speculated that former Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick would become Xavi’s replacement.
Whoever arrives will inherit a team with young talents Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí and the injured Gavi Páez but with very limited financial resources to sign new players.
Xavi says Barcelona president will have to explain why he won't continue as coach
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Xavi says Barcelona president will have to explain why he won't continue as coach
- “These have obviously been tough days, but my conscience is clear,” head coach Xavi said
- The 44-year-old said that he will now “take a break” from coaching
Rooney says Salah ‘destroying his Liverpool legacy’
- The Egypt forward said on Saturday he felt like he had been ‘thrown under the bus’ by Liverpool
- He was left on the bench for the third consecutive game in a 3-3 draw at Leeds and not even introduced as a substitute
LONDON: Mohamed Salah is “absolutely destroying his Liverpool legacy” following an extraordinary outburst at manager Arne Slot, according to Wayne Rooney.
The Egypt forward said on Saturday he felt like he had been “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool and that he no longer had a relationship with Slot after he was left on the bench for the third consecutive game in a 3-3 draw at Leeds and not even introduced as a substitute.
After next weekend’s home match against Brighton, Salah is set to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations and hinted that could be his final appearance in a Liverpool shirt should he be selected.
Former Manchester United and England striker Rooney believes Slot must now demonstrate he is in charge at Anfield by leaving Salah out completely from Tuesday’s Champions League tie at Inter Milan.
“Arne Slot has to show his authority and pull him in and say ‘you are not traveling with the team, what you said is not acceptable’,” said Rooney in his latest BBC podcast.
“Take yourself off to AFCON (the Africa Cup of Nations) and let everything calm down. If I was him there would be no way he would be in the team.”
Rooney added: “He (Salah) is absolutely destroying his legacy at Liverpool. It would be sad for him to throw it all away. He’s gone about it all wrong.”
Salah is Liverpool’s third highest goalscorer of all time with 250 goals in 420 appearances for the club.
However, the 33-year-old has been a shadow of his former self during Liverpool’s struggles this season — the club are now ninth in the table — with a mere four goals in 13 Premier League appearances.
After the Leeds game, Salah told reporters: “I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager, and all of a sudden we don’t have any relationship.
“It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame.”
