Xavi Hernández will leave the Barcelona bench at the end of the season. However, he would have already been fired by the club if it had been another coach who had proposed leaving with a deferred resignation formula. “If it wasn’t .
“At no time have I considered dismissing Xavi. We have always loved him as Barça coach,” commented Laporta, to whom Xavi informed of his resignation after the terrible result against Villareal last Saturday (3-5). “It was something surprising because we hadn’t planned for it,” he explained. “I listened to Xavi carefully. I could already see that he had reflected on it, that he had a lot of pressure built up on him.”
Regarding the new coach, Laporta has assured that he has not spoken personally with any candidate: “The future coach is in the hands of Deco. I am focused on this season and on things going well for Xavi in ??the final stretch.” . The president has also commented that the possibilities are “quite limited” and that “Rafa Márquez is not ruled out.”
The Barça top leader has been optimistic at a sporting level and has vindicated the culé squad, which he wants to fight for the Champions League and which he considers capable of beating Naples in the first leg at the end of February: “The squad is to be better than We have had injuries to key players and the team has suffered.” “Xavi will be motivated and will work hard until the end of the season, because he feels liberated,” he added.
Laporta has reaffirmed his position with the Negreira case and commented that Barça “has never dedicated itself to buying referees.” The president has described the case as “an orchestrated campaign to discredit the club” and Real Madrid’s requests to extend the instruction period as “an exercise in unacceptable cynicism.” “It is enough to check who have been the presidents of the referees for 70 years: either members of Madrid or directors or former players. And, in some cases, all at the same time,” he commented, referring to the merengue club.
When speaking about the latest refereeing controversies, the culé leader stated that “it is obvious that Madrid has always been favored by refereeing decisions. The Almería day was a shame and the whole world saw it.” In this sense, he has also denounced the journalistic treatment of Real Madrid TV, for which he has considered that “the Spanish federation should say that it is a way of putting pressure on the referees.” Likewise, he has been against VAR “because it makes football lose spontaneity.” “If a referee makes a mistake, imagine five or six,” he added.
As he commented, the Super League could be closer than expected: “It could exist next season or 2025-26, and if not, I’ll think about it because UEFA is also interested in Barça returning to the ECA [the Association of European Clubs]”. In any case, the president has stressed that he wants to push the project forward even without the British teams. “Whether the English come or not doesn’t bother me,” he stated flatly, after considering that the competition would be just as interesting without them.