Xavi Hernández confesses the mistake that cost him his job at Barça

BarcelonaFormer Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández confessed at a leadership conference at ESIC University that the mistake that cost the team its job was "lowering expectations," which, in his opinion, caused the players to lose "the same attitude, the same respect." "My mistake was maintaining that level of expectation for only one year. Since I arrived, we won La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup, but some time later I was self-critical and asked myself: 'Damn it, what happened to me?'"

Xavi arrived at Barça in November 2021 and left in May 2024. His team's performance declined over time. "I started my coaching career at Barça with high expectations of the players and the club because the club was coming from a period where there weren't too many demands," Xavi explained. The Terrassa native took over the Barça bench to replace Ronald Koeman, who was sacked by Joan Laporta after a very inconsistent start to the season. "I learned a lot from that. I should have been more self-critical," Xavi admitted.

Lamine Yamal's debut

On the other hand, Xavi also spoke about Lamine Yamal, whom he gave his debut with Barça's first team at just 15 years old. "I feel very proud to see what Lamine Yamal is doing and to have given him the opportunity to debut. I saw him as very ready, even though he was only 15 at the time."

Xavi's best season as Barça coach was 2022-2023, in which he first won the Spanish Super Cup, brilliantly defeating Real Madrid 3-1 in the final, and then secured the league title with a comfortable margin over their pursuers, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. But the positive momentum at the national level didn't last, and in the following season, 2023-2024, Barça had a trophyless year, failing to impress with their play. This sealed Xavi's fate. In the summer of 2024, Laporta decided that his replacement would be Hansi Flick.