Xavi Hernandez tendered his resignation at Barcelona earlier in the season after consistent criticism of his team’s performances, and since then the Catalan outfit have been brilliant.
Maybe the thought that each player is again playing for his place in the side has galvanised the group for the final few games of the campaign.
Barcelona, though unlikely to win both La Liga and the Champions League, still remain in the hunt for success in either competition, and stranger things have happened.
Football watchers will know to never say never where the beautiful game is concerned. Just ask Paris Saint-Germain after they were turned over 6-1 back in 2017, as Barcelona came back in the Champions League from a 4-0 first-leg deficit.
Barcelona want to keep Xavi
For all intents and purposes, the club’s former legendary midfielder is going to walk away in the summer and allow someone else to take the flak, with Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola the latest to apparently be mentioned in dispatches.
However, the situation remains clear for the club according to Fabrizio Romano.
“Honestly, I’ve nothing on Barca and Iraola so far,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive Daily Briefing.
“Barcelona have clear intentions in any case. Laporta wants to wait for Xavi, hoping for him to change his mind. Barça will wait again for Xavi, for sure.
“Then if he decides to confirm that he wants to leave Barca will consider other candidates, but they’re not advancing in talks with any other coach as they want to wait for Xavi.”
The question mark for both Joan Laporta and Deco is whether they can persuade Xavi to keep on going with his project and to effectively ignore the haters.
Though he’s tactically inept at times, Xavi is still growing as a coach and should be allowed to make mistakes on his journey to be the best manager he can be.
It’s true that not winning a trophy would go against him, but having the backing of the board and sporting director is vital, and it appears that Xavi has just that.
Would he really just walk away from the club of his life and leave them with another crisis ahead of the 2024/25 campaign?