After the home clap against Villarreal
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Coach Xavi has announced his resignation at the end of the season after the next serious setback with FC Barcelona. The 44-year-old said on Saturday evening after the spectacular 3:5 (0:1) defeat against Villarreal FC that he would no longer work as Barça coach after June 30th: “I think a change is needed. “As a fan of the Catalans, he could no longer allow the situation to continue.
Xavi continues (quoted via “barcawelt.de“): “The decision has been made for a few days. Given the circumstances, now is the moment. As a culé, I think about the club, also about the well-being of the players. It will free it up, it will make it more relaxed. It takes the tension out of the situation. It’s best to go on June 30th. I will give it my all in the remaining four months. I believe that we can still have a very good season and this announcement is helpful in changing the situation.” He doesn’t want to be a problem for Barcelona, ”on the contrary: I want to be a solution. I think it’s best that I leave the position on June 30th. I’ll stay until then, that’s what I agreed with the President. I also want to thank the President for his trust.”
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Against Villarreal, Barça fought back from a 2-0 deficit thanks to Gerard Moreno (41′) and the man who moved from the Blaugrana’s youth team to the province of Castelló in the summer (54′) and initially turned the game to 3-2. Ilkay Gündogan made it 1-2 (60th) and prepared Pedri’s goal (68th) and Eric Bailly’s own goal (71st). Villarreal turned the game around with three more goals, two of them very late in stoppage time, but then again and won 5-3. Gonçalo Guedes (84th), former Leipzig player Alexander Sørloth (90th+9) and José Luis Morales (90th+12) scored.
The former Spanish international Xavi has been coaching his long-standing club (767 games) since November 2021. The 2010 World Champion and European Champion of 2008 and 2012 previously had his first position as head coach at Al-Sadd in Qatar. With Barça he won the championship and Supercup in 2023. From 122 competitive games so far he has scored an average of 2.03 points with the top club. He only extended his expiring contract until 2025 in September.
This season, however, things are not going well for the team of Gündogan, Robert Lewandowski and Marc-André ter Stegen. In the league, the gap to arch-rivals and league leaders Real Madrid is already ten points, and surprise team FC Girona are also eight points more ahead. The Catalans were eliminated from the cup in the quarter-finals. In the Champions League, however, the team moved into the round of 16 as group winners ahead of FC Porto. There it is against the even more troubled Italian champions SSC Napoli.
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