Villarreal and Beyond

I took time to curate an interview from Xavi’s one on one with Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia–see below.

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Exclusive interview: Xavi Hernández breaks his silence

The former FC Barcelona player and manager says that Laporta blocked Leo Messi’s return when everything had been agreed.

After almost two years of silence, Xavi Hernández (Terrassa, 1980), legendary FC Barcelona player and Hansi Flick’s predecessor on the Barça bench, has decided to speak, in his words, “To tell the truth.” After more than 40 minutes of interview, he admits he feels “relieved.” People will probably be talking about this interview for years.

Why did you decide to speak?

Several reasons. The main one is that I want to explain my truth. After my departure, I decided to not make any statements out of respect for Barça. People know how much I love the club, my whole family is culé…

So why, then?

The version being told by the club is completely false, and I feel the need to explain myself. I’ve been carrying this inside me and I need to clarify things.

Let’s go one thing at a time. Do you like Hansi Flick’s team?

Very much. It’s dominant, attacking… We Barça fans are enjoying it, and I’m happy because I think we laid very strong foundations for this project to have continuity. The backbone of the team is Lamine, Pedri, Balde, Cubarsí, Fermín… players we put our faith in. That is one of the legacies I’m most proud of, beyond the two titles we won.

What kind of relationship do you have with Flick?

Excellent. We message each other constantly. I always congratulate him on the team, we talk about football… In fact, once he came to my house because of a difficult situation, that says a lot about him…

Can you expand on that?

He came to apologize after I asked him whether the club was really talking to him while I was still coach, during those two or three weeks when the club had already decided to get rid of me–but nobody would say it to my face. He apologized, we talked for over two hours, it was fantastic. The club told him not to say anything to me, and that’s why he came to my house to apologize. He’s a good man, very noble, and I’m glad things are going well for him.

Do you talk to the players?

Yes, I have a very good relationship with them. Naturally I congratulate all the players we had, that makes me proud. We were a family in the locker room. I was always honest with the players.

And you’re not frustrated about not being able to coach them?

No, quite the opposite. I’m very happy for them. We signed Raphinha, Christensen, Lewandowski, Koundé, everything planned together with Jordi Cruyff and Mateu Alemany. Now you see Fermín, Lamine—who for me is already the best in the world—Raphinha, whose position we changed so he could attack space…

And you didn’t make mistakes?

Of course we did things wrong. We’ve done a lot of self-criticism, personally and then with the staff through meetings. To sum it up briefly, I’d say my demands of the club went down as time went by. When I arrived from Qatar, in my first summer as coach, I told the president that if we didn’t sign certain players I would not continue, because we couldn’t compete at the highest level, and he listened. We won La Liga, we were competitive against TReal Madrid with Kroos, Modrić, etc., who had just won the Champions League…the following summer that level of demand dropped, and that’s what I am hard on myself for.

In what sense?

Busquets was leaving, I asked them to sign Zubimendi, and they said “No” for financial reasons. Then Jordi Cruyff left because of the lack of respect they showed him; I mean, it’s Cruyff’s son. Them, who always wave the Cruyff flag…I told him, “What are you talking about? We just won the league.” A month and a half later, they get rid of Mateu. At that moment I should have left, too. While we had control, the team kept improving; once they started making the decisions, the team—and not by coincidence—declined.

But your relationship with president Laporta was very good…

Yes, very good. In fact, I signed for Barça thanks to him, but in the end he let me down.

Why?

He got rid of me as manager without telling me the truth, influenced by a person who I think is above the president, Alejandro Echevarría. In other words, the one who got rid of me as manager was Alejandro.

That’s hard to believe…

But that’s how this Barça works. It’s practically run by Alejandro Echevarría. He was someone with whom I had a very close relationship, a friendship, and that’s perhaps the biggest disappointment in my departure from Barça. He failed me completely.

What happened?

In January of my last season as manager, I told them that from June onward I would not continue, for the good of the club and for my own good, personally. From then on the team kept winning, and they were the ones who, for two or three months until we lost in the Champions League to PSG and La Liga to Madrid, kept telling me I had to stay, trying to convince me. In fact, I had a face-to-face meeting with Alejandro because I knew he was the one deciding everything, and I asked him how he saw things. I said, “Look, I have doubts because you all are telling me to continue, but I don’t see it,” and he told me yes, that they were working on next year, planning everything, that the president saw things clearly…

Then came the elimination against PSG…

At that moment Alejandro calls me—I remember because I was coming down from school with the kids—and tells me we need to meet, that they had had a board meeting and that the majority were not convinced about me continuing. Alejandro told me to come to the training ground, and I told him there was no problem, that I had already said I was leaving and that I did not need to continue on.

The day of the sushi dinner…

Yes, at the president’s house. There, Laporta, who later also didn’t tell the truth, convinced me to stay. He told me literally: “Xavi, I can’t see the team without you, I can’t see the new Camp Nou without you, I can’t see the club’s 125th anniversary without you as manager.” And since I still had motivation left, and I saw a great future for the team with such a strong generation of young players coming through, I felt capable. I only asked for one change in the squad.

What was the problem?

There was a planning meeting with all my staff and with Raúl Martínez and Julio Tous, the new fitness coaches we had agreed with Alejandro and Deco would join, and that’s when Alejandro started shouting and saying that the physical prepwork was a disaster.

And was it true? That was talked about a lot in the media…

I interrupted him and told him it simply wasn’t like that. There is data showing that since 2003 there has not been a Barça side that ran more than our league-winning team. We never lost because of physical issues. That was the story they told in order to get rid of me as manager. And one of those who contributed to it was Raúl Martínez, another close friend who bought into Alejandro’s narrative to get me out.

Did Echevarría fire you?

At that moment I asked him what exactly his role was, because Deco, the Sporting Director, was there, and so was Bojan, his second in command. That’s when he decided I would not continue, but instead of telling me to my face and saying, “Look, you’re out,” two or three weeks went by.

How did you experience those weeks?

They launched a media campaign against me and, which is worse still and even more disappointing, Alejandro focused on speaking to players like Sergi Roberto, Araújo, Pedri, or Raphinha, and told them that I wanted to sell them.

People talked about a list of potential departures, signed by you.

That still hurts me because it isn’t true. We did plan because we were heavily constrained by Financial Fair Play, and we only talked about making one sale. In fact, we planned it with Jordi and Mateu, and we were only going to part ways with one player.

Which player?

I’d rather not say, out of respect for that player. I didn’t tell him at the time, and later they did not give me time to tell him. I remember those two or three weeks went by without them answering my phone calls or messages. I trusted Laporta, and Alejandro was my friend, but he is the one who pushed me out of the club.

You are hurt.

People have to understand it, this is my story. In fact, there was a moment when Sergi Roberto, who is my friend and was captain, came to me and said, “Xavi, do you really not want me to continue?” And I told him it was exactly the opposite, that they were killing me precisely because I was defending his contract renewal. Then he told me Mr. Alejandro was spreading the same to various players.

Did they believe you?

I think so. I was always straightforward. I did that with Piqué, my teammate for years, and with Jordi Alba, my friend—I told him it was time for him to leave. How could I not do the same with the others? I’m a football person, dressing-room codes are clear. Otherwise, you lose the dressing room. But Alejandro devoted himself to torpedoing that narrative, and it still continues today, which is why I’m doing this interview.

Is that the hardest thing for you?

I’ve held back, but the president is saying that I wanted ten departures, and that isn’t true.

Are you speaking out of bitterness?

Not at all. There are many more things that truly hurt me, but I’m not speaking from resentment, I’m speaking from a sense of justice. I want it to be known that things at Barça are not working well. I lived through it, and this is my message to the people. I respect the players, Hansi, and the club, but I’m speaking for my own personal protection. The players can’t talk about me; everything is very tense.

This interview could influence the elections. They may accuse you of opportunism.

What I want is for the club members to understand that this is happening inside Barça, and, hand on heart, that the club needs change from top to bottom, structure, professionalism… For me it’s crystal clear, and people need to hear it from my mouth. We cannot depend on people who are not honorable.

Hansi Flick is very loyal to Laporta and praises him.

I don’t want to talk about the current situation because I’m not there. I’m only saying that they did not treat me well, just like Koeman in his time.

But did you understand the managerial change?

Of course, which is why I’m not speaking out of resentment. I think a change of manager was necessary. We didn’t win, and when you’re at Barça you are exposed to results. What I mean is that these people are not doing things right, which is why I think the club needs a general overhaul.

And what do you think of Deco?

I respect him, but Deco is tied hand and foot by Echevarría, who is the one really making the decisions.

Do you speak with Leo Messi?

Yes, Leo and I have a good relationship.

Do you discuss the elections?

Those are private conversations, and besides, because it’s Leo and given the impact anything involving him has, I’d rather not say anything. But I imagine you all know what he thinks, right?

Could he have returned to Barça while you were the coach?

Here again, the president is not telling the truth. Leo was signed. In January 2023, after winning the World Cup, we got in touch and he told me he was excited about coming back, and I could see it. We talked until March, and I told him, “Well, when you give me the OK, I’ll tell the president, because from a footballing point of view I see it.”

And then?

The president began negotiating the contract with Leo’s father, and we had LaLiga’s green light, but it was the president who pulled everything back.

Did he explain why?

Laporta told me literally that if Leo came back, he would “cause a war”, and that he couldn’t allow that. Then all of a sudden Leo stopped answering my calls because on the other side they had told him it couldn’t be done. I called his father and said, “It can’t be, Jorge,” and he told me, “Talk to the president.” And I’m telling you that we had spent five months talking with Leo, it was done, there were no doubts on how it would work on the pitch, financially we were moving to Montjuïc and were going to do a “Last Dance” like Jordan’s, everything was ready.

You have publicly supported Víctor Font. If he wins, will you return to Barça?

At this point I think I will never come back to Barça again. My time there as a player and as a manager is over. From here on, my interest is in telling the truth, and Leo didn’t come back to Barça because the president didn’t want him to—not because of LaLiga, nor because Jorge Messi asked for more money. That is a lie. It was the president and his people who told him no, that they couldn’t allow it, that he held all the power and Messi would push him to mismanage that power.

Did it take a while before you spoke to Messi again?

Yes, because he thought I was part of the whole scheme. It really affected my relationship with Leo, but now it’s good again.

Will Messi come back?

I was dying for Leo to come back, and even today I think he would help the team score goals and provide the final pass, without any doubt–he’s going to play in a World Cup, for God’s sake! Leo would succeed again at Camp Nou, and it was his wish, and mine. He knows that now, but there was a period when I couldn’t communicate with him. It was a shame, but it was because of the people who are there.

Have you spoken with Laporta since your dismissal?

No.

When was the last time you spoke?

First I remember that, after those two or three weeks in which he didn’t answer my messages, we saw each other after the match against Rayo. The singing section was chanting, “Xavi, yes; Laporta, no.” It was an awkward, very tense situation.

And afterward?

Days later he showed up, and I said to him, “Well, I suppose I’m out on the street, but tell me why,” and he replied that I didn’t believe in the squad. That was false, but I told him, “Look, whatever, I’m not going to leave Barça firing shots.”

The Barça of ideological camps won’t end with this interview…

They make you believe that at Barça it’s either “You’re with me or against me.” That is the slogan of “Contra tot y contra tots” (“Against everything and everyone”). That’s how they are; it’s their modus operandi, and it’s a shame for Barça supporters. I’m not against Laporta, I’m in pro Barça. We need healthy people. We’ve spent 20 years with all these “-isms”: Cruyffism, Laportism, Sandrism, Nuñism… everyone has to be part of Barça.

How do you feel after having spoken?

I feel calmer. I’m out because I stood up to Alejandro Echevarría.