{"id":22305,"date":"2024-01-28T13:14:13","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T10:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/22305\/xavi-to-step-down-as\/"},"modified":"2024-01-28T13:14:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T10:14:14","slug":"xavi-to-step-down-as","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/?p=22305","title":{"rendered":"Xavi to step down as Barcelona coach at end of season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Xavi to step down as Barcelona coach at end of season\u060c<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<ul class=\"authors\">\n<li class=\"mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><\/div>\n<p>Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent<span class=\"timestamp \">January 27, 2024, 9:11 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Barcelona coach Xavi Hern\u00e1ndez has announced he will leave the club at the end of the season following Saturday&#39;s 5-3 defeat to Villarreal at the Olympic Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Pressure had been mounting on Xavi throughout January after a string of disappointing results, including a 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final and a 4-2 loss to Athletic Club on Wednesday. in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8211; Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Xavi, who recently signed a new contract until 2025, says he made the decision before the Villarreal game but now is the right time to make it official.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to announce that I will not remain coach of Bar\u00e7a beyond the end of this season,\u201d Xavi confirmed during a press conference.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I had decided to leave a few days ago, but I think now is the right time to announce it to help reduce the tension that exists around the club. A change of dynamic is necessary.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So as a Barca fan, thinking about the best interests of the club and the players, I think it&#39;s the right decision. No one is bigger than the club and I&#39;m a supporter first and foremost. this club.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The defeat against Villarreal left Barca 10 points behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid after their elimination from the Supercopa and Copa del Rey this month.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday&#39;s defeat was the first time Barca had conceded five goals in a La Liga match at home since January 1963, when they were beaten 5-1 by Real Madrid.  It&#39;s also the first time since 1951 that they have allowed four or more goals in consecutive games.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-photo full\">\n<figure><picture><source data- media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data- media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><img class=\" lazyload lazyload\" data-image-container=\".inline-photo\" height=\"320\" width=\"570\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"photoCaption\">Xavi Hern\u00e1ndez took over as Barcelona coach in November 2021 following the dismissal of Ronald Koeman. <cite>Photo by David S. Bustamante\/Soccrates\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>They remain in the Champions League, with Napoli set to play two matches in the last 16 next month, and Xavi is still hoping to go out on a high.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will give even more in the remaining months,\u201d he added.  &#8220;I still think we can turn things around and have a good season. I think we can fight for La Liga, even being 10 points behind.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think this announcement can free the players and help reduce tension around the club. They don&#39;t deserve any of this, it&#39;s a big group. In a way, it freed me too.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#39;t want to be a problem for the club, I want to be a solution. I was a solution two years ago when I was appointed, but now, thinking with my heart and thinking about the club, it I&#39;d better go in the summer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Xavi insists his decision is &#39;irreversible&#39; regardless of Barca&#39;s success by the end of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe feeling of being Bar\u00e7a coach can be unpleasant,\u201d he continued.  \u201cIt\u2019s cruel, there is a lack of respect towards you, your work is not valued. (&#8230;) It\u2019s terrible for your mental health and your morale.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#39;m a positive guy, but you get to the point where you think it doesn&#39;t make sense to continue. That&#39;s what it is.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He added that he had not yet communicated the decision to his players as they were &#8220;devastated&#8221; in the dressing room after the Villarreal game, but that he would speak with them in training on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Xavi, 44, took over from Ronald Koeman in 2021 and took Barca from ninth in La Liga to second and qualification for the Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, his first full campaign in charge of the club, he led <em>Blaugrana <\/em>to their first La Liga title since 2019 and also won the Spanish Super Cup.<\/p>\n<p>However, the club failed to advance out of the Champions League group stage for the second consecutive season.  They managed to reach the last 16 of Europe&#39;s elite competition this season, but results elsewhere have doomed the manager.<\/p>\n<p>Defeats to Madrid and Girona before Christmas saw them fall off the pace of La Liga, and January&#39;s performances against Madrid, Athletic and Villarreal further increased the doubts.<\/p>\n<p>Xavi, who coached Qatari side Al Sadd before returning to Barca, where he spent more than 20 years as a player, has hinted he will not seek an immediate return to management following his departure .<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what the future holds for me because this job allows me to spend less time with my family,\u201d he said.  &#8220;They are suffering and I can&#39;t be so selfish throughout my career. I&#39;m going to spend time at home and rest, I need to be with my children more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Xavi to step down as Barcelona coach at end of season\u060c Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondentJanuary 27, 2024, 9:11 p.m. Barcelona coach Xavi Hern\u00e1ndez has announced he will leave the club at the end of the season following Saturday&#39;s 5-3 defeat to Villarreal at the Olympic Stadium. Pressure had been mounting on Xavi throughout January after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1442,1528,1555,3308,3927],"class_list":["post-22305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","tag-barcelona","tag-coach","tag-season","tag-step","tag-xavi"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22307,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22305\/revisions\/22307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}