We could feel it coming for several weeks. FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez (Xavi, therefore) announced this Saturday that he will leave the Catalan club at the end of the season. “On June 30, I will leave the club, it is a decision that I took with the president, with the staff,” declared the former midfielder at a press conference, after he had extended his contract until 2025.
Barça had just lost heavily at home against Villarreal (3-5) a few minutes earlier. Far behind Real Madrid and Girona in La Liga, the Blaugrana were also recently kicked out of the Copa del Rey by Athletic Bilbao, and from the Spanish Super Cup by the same Real.
Arrived in the heart of the storm
Xavi, who took office in November 2021, in what was surely the worst period in Barça’s recent history, last year allowed his training club to win its first Spanish championship title since 2019.