“Have you changed your mind regarding his continuity?” echoed in every press conference of Xavi Hernández after his anticipated goodbye on January 27 after the defeat against Villarreal in Montjuïc. At first, clear and forceful. “My decision is not going to change.” But with time and the evolution in the team dynamics that the Terrassa coach demanded so much, his speech moderated. “Today” was the phrase that the coach repeated most when asked about his future. Slight changes, subtly hopeful for all those fans who shouted “Xavi stay”. And for Joan Laporta, who at the beginning assured that he always trusted the coach to change his destiny. But the contradictions in Xavi’s words have been recurrent since his anticipated farewell, always hesitating between the reasons and the timingof your decision. And also with the subsequent announcement, the one in which he stated that yes, he was staying, his statements have continued to be mired in a back-and-forth of disagreements.
“If you don’t win [títulos], I will be the first to say ‘we have come this far’. But we are halfway through the season,” the coach confessed on January 17. In a few weeks, the Champions League faded against PSG, the League slipped away against Real Madrid and the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup fell into oblivion. The atmosphere became tense, and the one from Terrassa decided to go ahead. “Being Barcelona coach is cruel, unpleasant, you feel disrespected. It is a terrible drain on mental health, mood, energy goes down… To the point where you say: there is no point in continuing,” Xavi developed after the defeat against Villarreal, where he stated that going to The end of the course was a decision he had made “a few days ago,” and with which he felt “good” and liberated. And in the same press conference, he contradicted himself: “It is not a question of energy, it is a change of course. I have all the energy and more.”
Three days later, before the match against Osasuna, his speech changed again: “I think Barcelona needs another person. That’s why I had already decided from the beginning of the season.” The following months passed with the same doubts; He argued that his departure was due to a problem of “dynamics”, “wear and tear” and also “results”. Sometimes everything is meditated — “I am very rational” —, other times, guided by his feelings — “it comes from my heart” —. He announced his resignation “so as not to be a problem for Barcelona,” and communicated his continuity because it was “the best thing for the club.” And after his announcement, Xavi felt his energy, his enthusiasm and excitement to continue for another year. “We have the objective of finishing second and qualifying for the Super Cup,” he confessed in the previous match against Valencia, and confirmed this before the game against Girona, but Xavi lost again against the Catalan rival. And with his continuity the contradictions did not cease; On the contrary, they only revived. The words played against him, and everything in Barcelona fell into a tense calm.
Until this Wednesday. Xavi assured the president that he trusted the team. In public, at the press conference a few days ago before the match against Almería, he changed his message, ensuring a need for reinforcements that could not be met due to the club’s situation. His words did not sit well with the board. But before, Xavi’s contradictions had already been extrapolated to Barcelona. Joan Laporta, in his first speech as president, proclaimed that losing everything with him would have consequences. But there were no consequences for Xavi. “I don’t think I’m losing credibility at all. Obviously, losing has consequences,” confessed the top leader of the Barça entity when assuming the continuity of Xavi. Days later he would be seen in the Montilivi box suffering and upset after the defeat against Girona: “This cannot be.”
“I will continue no matter what happens until the end of the season, unless they decide not to,” said Xavi at the press conference called to announce his continuity until next year. Xavi speaks, and not all the words resonate harmoniously in the offices. “In the end, we talked too much at the press conference. It is time to act,” he said a few months ago in reference to the number of times he spoke to the media. Certainly, his words, his incoherent speech full of swings, have turned against him.
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