"I lowered my standards": Xavi admits mistakes as Barça boss | OneFootball

Currently without a club, Xavi Hernández spoke about his time as coach of Barcelona during a lecture on leadership at ESIC University. The former Spanish midfielder made a self-critique of his work and acknowledged that he made mistakes during his period at the club, which lasted three seasons.

“I started my coaching career at Barça with great expectations, both for the players and for the club (…) The club was coming off a season with little demand, my mistake was maintaining the high standard for only one year, until we won the league and the super cup,” Xavi commented.

The coach spoke about the team’s drop in performance after winning the Spanish Championship and the Spanish Super Cup and attributed the blame to himself. “I asked myself: Damn, what happened to me? I lowered the standards for the players and they no longer had the same attitude, the same commitment, the same respect. The standards dropped and, in the last season, we didn’t win anything. I learned a lot from this, I had to be self-critical.” he admitted.

Performance as Barcelona’s coach

A club idol as a player, Xavi took charge of Barcelona’s first team after spending two years as coach of Al-Sadd in Qatar. As coach of the culés, he won the Spanish Championship and the Spanish Super Cup.

He left the club at the end of the 23/24 season after poor performances from the team and a series of clashes with president Joan Laporta. He managed 143 matches at Barça, accumulating 91 wins, 23 draws, and 29 losses.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.