One of the biggest coaching jobs in European football is no longer available after Xavi announced he is staying on as Barcelona coach.
The Barca icon was due to vacate the Camp Nou hot-seat at the end of 2023/24, after revealing in January he was stepping down. Barcelona lost a thrilling La Liga game to Villarreal on January 27, but it was not the result that grabbed the headlines for long after that match.
Head coach Xavi announced after the 5-3 home loss that he would be leaving Barca at the end of the season. The former star midfielder said the decision was “for the good of the players” after finding life difficult in 2023/24 following their title win last term.
“For the good of the board of directors, it is best that I leave,” Xavi said after that defeat that left Barca 11 points behind surprise early-season leaders Girona. “I will give my best. I think all of that will help the dynamic change. This is the message I would like to give. I think I am doing the right thing.”
Something, though, has clearly now changed.
Despite being dumped out of the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage this month following a thrilling comeback by PSG, and with the LaLiga title out of reach as arch-rivals Real Madrid sit well clear at the top of the table, Xavi has now made a U-turn. On April 25, he confirmed he would be staying until at least the end of his current contract, which expires in June 2025.
Here we breakdown his record at Barcelona, and what his continuation means for the Spanish giants.
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Despite what everyone thought, the answer is emphatically now ‘yes’.
At a press conference held with club president Joan Laporta on April 25, Xavi confirmed the rumors, declaring: “The project is not finished.”
Laporta added: “We know that he made some statements in the middle of the season, but today we have the good news that he is staying and he has conveyed to me the enthusiasm and confidence he has in the project. It’s great news.”
When he had first announced his exit, Xavi had indicated a lack of confidence in the direction of the club. The pressure of Barca’s early-season struggles appeared to be weighing heavy on him, and he said he felt “liberated” by his decision to step away. But since that point, both he and his team seem to have operated with more freedom.
Even with that Champions League exit, the sense of a weight being lifted has been borne out in the club’s results. The LaLiga title is out of reach, thanks to Barca’s defeat to Real Madrid in El Clasico last weekend, but that was the first time they have lost in domestic action since that fateful night against Villarreal.
* Stats correct to April 25, 2024
After playing over 500 games for Barcelona, Xavi was finally lured back to the club as manager in November 2021.
The Spaniard impressed during his first coaching stint with Qatari club Al Sadd and Barcelona convinced Xavi to come back to replace Ronald Koeman after a poor start to the 2021/22 season.
Without former teammate Lionel Messi to call upon, the 42-year-old had to rebuild a squad short on confidence and his first season in charge of Barcelona was a mixed bag.
He failed to rejuvenate Barca’s stalling Champions League campaign, drawing 0-0 with Benfica before losing 3-0 to Bayern Munich as the club failed to escape their group.
Barcelona were then knocked out of the Europa League at the quarterfinal stage by eventual champions Eintracht Frankfurt.
Xavi’s first El Clasico in charge ended in a 3-2 defeat in the Supercopa de Espana in January 2022, but he got his revenge two months later in the league as Barca smashed Real Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
That victory came during a 15-game unbeaten run for the club in La Liga as they wrapped up second-place, despite failing to win their last two matches.
Xavi was unable to pick up any silverware with Barcelona in his first season, as the side failed to make a final across the 2021/22 campaign.
If that season was foundational, 2022/23 was more transitional. An ageing squad began to be revamped, with a last hurrah for Gerard Pique before he headed off into retirement and a final swansong at Barca for Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
Under Xavi’s guidance, Barca clinched their first trophy since 2021 by defeating beating Real 3-1 in the Supercopa and by the end of the season, they had won their 27th LaLiga title with four games to spare. That marked their first league triumph since 2018/19.
The arrivals of the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha saw a new generation of Blaugrana superstars emerge, and Xavi firmly establish himself as among the world’s elite coaches.
Champions League progress continued to elude him, though, as for the second straight season Barca were dumped out at the group stage. A 3-0 defeat against Bayern Munich in October consigned them to back-to-back group exits for the first time since 1999.
Heading into 2023/24, Xavi knew the size of the challenge. The aim was to retain their position as the dominant force in LaLiga but also to finally make up lost ground against the elite in Europe.
Things did not start well, and Xavi said he would “pack his bags” if his players lost faith in him following a 4-1 defeat by rivals Real Madrid in the Supercopa. Reports of his potential sacking swirled.
Barca responded briefly but then went out of the Copa del Rey with defeat at Athletic Bilbao, before slipping 10 points behind the title race with defeat against Villarreal.
That led to the crossroads moment. Following talks with Laporta, vice-president Rafa Yuste and sporting director Deco, Xavi announced: “I think the club needs a change of dynamic. For the good of the board of directors, it is best that I leave. For the good of the players, I believe that they will free themselves. We play with a lot of tension.”
He was not wrong. With that “tension” lifted, results began to change. Barca topped Champions League Group H and then beat Napoli over two legs in the last 16, while in LaLiga an unbeaten run of 12 matches closed the gap on Real.
Defeat in a stunning second-leg collapse against PSG in the Champions League did cast doubt about the long-term resilience of the current squad, but the Barca hierarchy clearly remain convinced Xavi is the right man to lead them.
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As a player, Xavi won pretty much everything, both at club and international level for Barcelona and Spain.
Despite being a coach for only five years, he is already well on the way to a sizeable trophy haul in management, too.
