Barcelona have announced Hansi Flick as their new coach and thoughts have already turned to next season under the German — but we shouldn’t forget how badly they treated his predecessor Xavi.
On May 19, the same day Jurgen Klopp bid an emotional farewell to Liverpool with a 2-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield, Barca denied Xavi a proper send-off.
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It was the Blaugrana’s last game of the season at their temporary home, Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, and the legendary former midfielder knew nothing of his future, despite local media being full of reports that president Joan Laporta had decided to terminate his contract.
Six days later, the club confirmed that decision — less than a month after Xavi, Laporta and sporting director Deco had posed for a picture in a press conference announcing he was staying.
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Another media appearance, before last month’s game against Almeria, proved to be Xavi’s undoing. The coach gave a realistic and pessimistic view of Barca’s financial situation, which Laporta and his board thought contrasted with the vision he had presented for next season in reversing his decision to leave the club.
Xavi agreed to stay in a late-night meeting with Laporta dubbed ‘sushi night’ in the local press. According to club sources — who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — Xavi said his team could be competitive next season, which did not appear to be the case in that subsequent press conference before Almeria.
That led to those reports stating the 44-year-old was on his way out, but nobody told him what his future would look like — even when he asked them directly.
The 2-0 win against Almeria took place against a backdrop of those rumours, which grew stronger as Barca beat Rayo Vallecano 3-0 in their last home game. Xavi hoped to meet Laporta and Deco there to find out what was going on.
But none of the directors appeared in public to give explanations and there was no club statement — a method used by Barcelona in recent months to deny information published in the media.
Meanwhile, Xavi had to face three press conferences in which all the questions focused on his future.
Xavi’s 767 appearances for Barca are second only to Lionel Messi and he won everything as a player for club and country. But the club threw their legend to the lions when the easiest thing to do would have been to reject his decision to stay at ‘sushi night’.
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They could have thanked him and given him a dignified farewell in front of the fans, who chanted “Xavi si, Laporta no” for more than two minutes during that last game at Montjuic. They would have had an easy out too, given they had accepted Xavi’s deferred departure in January.
The agony of those 10 days in which directors avoided him while information about his dismissal did not stop in the media is something that nobody deserves, much less a club legend. Xavi found out from the press that Deco and assistant sporting director Bojan Krkic had travelled to meet with Flick.
The day before the Women’s Champions League final between Barcelona and Lyon, they finally told him and decided to make Xavi’s sacking public.
It overshadowed the build-up to the biggest match in the women’s team’s season — which they won 2-0 in Bilbao — and led to Xavi taking a press conference before the final match of the campaign against Sevilla in which everyone knew his fate.
“How badly Barcelona treats its legends,” said then-Sevilla boss Quique Sanchez Flores at his own media appearance a few hours later.
He is right — and it is not just Xavi. Barca’s fanbase is beginning to get fed up with not being able to say goodbye to the figures who have made this club great as players or coaches. It is a longstanding problem which seemed to have improved with the farewells afforded to Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Xavi the player, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
Since the pandemic, however, there have been abrupt departures for Messi, Ronald Koeman and now Xavi as coach.
The case of Messi, Barca’s record appearance maker and scorer, is the most stark. The Argentine expressed his desire to leave in 2020 after seeing how his friend and former team-mate Luis Suarez was treated by former president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his board. During his re-election campaign, Laporta said one of his objectives would be to keep Messi at the Camp Nou.
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Messi voted for Laporta, he was named president in March 2021 and the forward’s future seemed clear. He had reached a verbal agreement to renew his contract — which was set to expire that summer — but, in the end, Laporta told him it was impossible to extend his deal for financial reasons.
The tearful press conference that followed has gone down in infamy. Messi never got the chance to say farewell to Barca fans, even though many came to the Camp Nou to protest when his departure was announced.
Those memories hurt for supporters and were made worse by the prospect of his return being dangled in front of them last summer. The club said it was up to Messi — even though financially they could never afford his signing.
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There are similarities between the cases of Xavi and Koeman. The former centre-back won Barcelona their first European Cup with his free kick in the final at Wembley in 1992 but left as coach without being able to say goodbye to the fans 29 years later.
Koeman also gave a press conference in which he read out a statement saying that Barca were in a delicate economic situation and were not ready to compete for the Champions League. In 2021, Laporta told the Dutchman he would stay after rumours about his future that summer. But a few months later, he terminated Koeman’s contract and appointed Xavi instead.
Sergi Roberto — the homegrown player who made his first-team debut in 2009 and has been an ever-present with Barcelona — might be next.
Roberto wants to stay, even if it means continuing to play a reduced role. The last two times he renewed his deal, he saw his salary halved. He is Barca’s captain and a La Masia product who has given everything to the club, even playing right-back when his preferred position is as a midfielder.
The 32-year-old’s contract expires at the end of June. Sources close to the player have said the club only have a verbal agreement to extend with him, which includes a provision whereby Roberto would be released in mid-August if they cannot find space for him in the squad due to financial fair play issues.
Farewells will never please everyone; coaches and players come and go and nobody stays forever. But everyone has the right to say goodbye in a dignified way.
That was especially true of Xavi. Instead, he met the same fate as many Barca heroes.
(Top photo: Getty Images)
