"Happy and excited": this is how Xavi Hernández begins his new and ambitious project

BarcelonaXavi Hernández will debut in style as the new head coach of the Netherlands. The Dutch team faces the German national team this Thursday (8:45 PM) in a duel corresponding to the first matchday of the UEFA Nations League group stage. The German team also introduces a new coach on the scene: Jürgen Klopp. This competition will serve as the testing ground for the coach from Terrassa in international football, with the 2028 European Championship as the first major litmus test for a Dutch side that seeks to return to playing a recognizable brand of football, with the school of Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels as two of its greatest exponents, and to be competitive once again in major tournaments. "I want people to see a team with passion, ambition, intensity," Xavi stated in the pre-match press conference.

The match will arrive just three days after the coach was able to meet and personally greet his new players at the Dutch national team's facilities. "I am happy and excited," the former Barcelona player and coach kept saying, one by one, to his new players, displaying smiles and affectionate handshakes. Xavi wants to build a "team that is the protagonist in the game," and the first test will be a demanding one at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam. With a contract until the 2030 World Cup, the coach from Terrassa defends a clear idea of football: "Play in the opponent's half, we will try to have possession and be brave in defense".

It will not be an easy challenge. For the moment, these first few days he has scheduled several sessions, mostly behind closed doors and focusing on tactics: "We have many things to do. We don't have too much time, but there are no excuses," the coach pointed out, while also appealing to team spirit: "Everyone must understand that we are a group, we are a family. We don't want egos. The most important thing here is the group, the team." In fact, the narrative – and the proposal (positional play, offensive teams that dominate possession, attacking football...) – of Xavi match the fact that both the Dutch federation and the Catalan coach have decided to join their paths. "Without Johan Cruyff at Barça, surely a footballer like Xavi would not have ended up having the career he had there. Louis van Gaal made him debut and with Frank Rijkaard he blossomed," they explained to ARA from the entourage of the man from Terrassa.

Xavi, who arrives to replace Ronald Koeman, is the first non-Dutch coach to hold the position in 48 years. The last one had been the Austrian Ernst Happel in 1978. The man from Terrassa takes the bench after the Netherlands had previously tried to hire the fellow Catalan Pep Guardiola and the Dutchman Arne Slot. For his part, after taking a sabbatical period that has lasted almost two years, he had received interest from several clubs, but he prioritized coaching a national team and doing so by starting a new cycle, as with the Netherlands. That is why he rejected the offer from Morocco last March.

The first delicate decision for Xavi Hernández with the Netherlands

The first big (and controversial) decision of Xavi was to leave Memphis Depay, the all-time top scorer of the Netherlands, with whom he had already coincided at Barça, out of his first squad call-up. Currently, Memphis plays for the Brazilian club Corinthians and was going through a difficult moment after missing a penalty last week in the final minute, which resulted in his team's elimination against the Argentine side Estudiantes de la Plata in the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores. "Perhaps talking to Memphis has been my most difficult decision," the coach explained in the face of the barrage of questions about the striker, although he clarified that both have "a good relationship" and that "his response was incredible, with great maturity, he understood everything".

Xavi has ruled out, however, that Memphis, 32, cannot be called up soon. Virgil van Dijk, the 35-year-old Liverpool centre-back, is on the list and will continue as captain of the oranje national team. Van Dijk had recently explained that it has been "a major decision" to continue defending the colors of the Netherlands, but stated that Xavi convinced him. The captain of the Netherlands and Liverpool has 96 international caps but had left his continuity up in the air after Koeman resigned in June following the Netherlands' defeat against Morocco in the round of 16 of last summer's World Cup. After facing Germany, the team managed by Xavi will play three more Nations League matches against Serbia, Greece, and, once again, against Serbia.