FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez has once again raised the possibility of his departure if he ends the season without a trophy.
Athletic Club beat Barcelona in overtime in the Copa del Rey quarter-final, winning 4-2. Barcelona now only has to fight for the Champions League and La Liga, the summit of which is eight points away. Xavi said shortly after the match that they were not far from getting a result against the Basque club, even if his team ran out of gas.
Xavi’s promise
“ When the draw was announced, I already said that we were unlucky, because a match in San Mames is always very difficult. We took the lead on the scoreboard by conceding the first goal and we even had the winning goal on Lamine’s last opportunity before extra time. We have to rebuild from Saturday, think about La Liga, the Champions League and participate in it. We can be proud, at least we tried until the end”he told MD.
At the beginning of the month, Xavi made no secret that if FC Barcelona did not win anything, or if he felt that the team no longer responded to him, he would leave at the end of the season. A subject that he addressed again during his press conference. “What I said is that I will have to leave if I don’t win titles, or if we are not competitive. You are sounding the alarm, but you are doing surveys to find out whether I will remain a coach or not. When you don’t win, the coach gets blamed. Today we fought for a title, but at the end of the day it’s the same at all the big clubs. If, at the end of the season, we are not at a competitive level, I will leave.” Previously, he had expressed his pride, before declaring that the future was promising: “Today is the beginning of a new era, whether I am here or not. There is a future.”
