Barcelona once felt to be a club that is so respected in Europe and the world when Pep Guardiola served as coach at Camp Nou. From July 2008 to June 2012, 14 trophies from various events were presented by Guardiola with Barcelona.
Guardiola not only gave the title, but also formed a solid team, who continued to win the trophy despite leaving the Catalunya club. After being left by Guardiola, the Blaugrana could still add 15 more trophies until last season even with different coaches.
Barcelona’s playing style from Guardiola’s tactic is fading away. Barcelona’s dominance after that might not be as thick as Guardiola’s, but the trophy cabinet could still be filled. The late Tito Vilanova, Luis Enrique, and Ernesto Valverde were coaches after Guardiola who could still give the title to Barcelona.
However, since Guardiola left Barcelona’s management seems unsatisfied with the performance of the coaches they recruited. Except for Luis Enrique. For three seasons, Enrique successfully gave three titles to the Blaugrana. Enrique becomes Barcelona’s most successful coach after Guardiola.
A figure like Enrique and Guardiola that is now needed by Barcelona. The name most widely associated with the club from Catalunya is their former captain, Xavi Hernandez, who now coaches Qatar’s Al Sadd club.
The position of the Barcelona coach who is now occupied by Quique Setien can still change next season. Spanish media said the rest of the season was considered by management to extend or break Setien’s contract.
Besides Xavi, Mauricio Pochettino also had a great chance to train Gerad Pique and his friends. But compared to Pochettino, Xavi has more open opportunities. As a player Xavi has a lot of heritage with Barcelona. He was one of the key players in the success of Barcelona in the Guardiola era.
Xavi is an example of a perfect midfielder with complete quality. He is strong, has good quality of football, and a slick play vision. With Andres Iniesta, Xavi is the ideal combination in Barcelona’s midfield.
Total Xavi presented 25 titles for Barcelona throughout his career. The coach’s nine ‘hands’ are felt by Xavi in Barcelona, ranging from Louis van Gaal to Luis Enrique .Xavi’s legacy for the Terrassa-born coach coached Barcelona next season. Xavi’s success as a player is the same as that of Guardiola in Barcelona. But, Xavi is certainly not Guardiola. The scheme and game that are applied are also different.
The fate of Xavi and Guardiola in Barcelona can be different. However, Xavi still has the destiny of training Barcelona, like Guardiola. Xavi’s step to be able to train Barcelona is arguably better than Guardiola. When the Barcelona management gambled ‘raising’ Guardiola from Barcelona B, Xavi actually ‘had studied’ with Al Sadd.
In 28 matches with Al Sadd, Xavi won 15 wins, 4 draws and 9 defeats in various events. Xavi’s two trophies at the club, the 2019 Qatar Super Cup and the Qatar Cup 2020. A good score for a coach’s first season.
Together with Al Sadd, Xavi played more with the 4-3-2-1 pattern, while Guardiola 4-3-3 during his time at Barcelona. Nevertheless, the pattern adopted by Xavi in Al Sadd remains as needed, sometimes using 4-2-2 or 4-3-3.
During play, Xavi considered football as a ‘space of time’ relationship. He does not care about what a game is like. In Xavi’s mind only a player must make good use of space, because that way the ball will easily flow to him.
That scheme seems to have been applied by Xavi in Al Sadd. Al Sadd’s players do not control or hold the ball much, but quickly give the ball to colleagues who are in a more open position.
Xavi has a lot of strong capital to become a Barcelona coach. With the titles he won, the players will be more respectful of Xavi’s figure. Just like when Guardiola coached Barcelona.
In those days Guardiola did not hesitate to kick Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Ronaldinho. For that one principle, Xavi will be as brave as Guardiola to make Barcelona a solid team.
Not long ago Xavi also intervened about Barcelona’s rivalry with Real Madrid. Xavi said that Real Madrid had more luck at the Champions League than Barcelona.
To be a Champions League champion, Barcelona must be truly superior and dominating. The statement shows Xavi has a destiny as a senior Barcelona coach.
As a great and successful player in Catalunya, Xavi’s desire to train at Barcelona is very strong, and it’s only natural. But he also did not want to start the era in the middle of time.
When it was rumored that Ernesto Valverde would be kicked out in January, Xavi’s name would be one that was raised as a substitute. Xavi issue contacted by the Barcelona continued to stick. But Xavi refused, because he wanted to start from the beginning of the season.
If you go to Barcelona next season, Xavi is believed to be doing a number of renovations. Senior players such as Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic or Gerard Pique might be able to complement the depth of the squad. It could be that only Lionel Messi is a senior player that Xavi has relied on.
Next season could be the right time for Xavi to Barcelona. Success at Al Sadd became a ‘savings’ for the continuation of Xavi’s coaching career with Barcelona.
If Xavi accepts Barcelona’s management offer for the 2020/2021 season, one of the challenges Xavi can face is the problem of player transfers.
The corona virus pandemic or Covid-19 currently makes Barcelona financial difficulties. Even the players must be willing to cut salaries up to 70 percent.
This condition could interfere with Blaugrana’s transfer plans in the transfer market later. That way, Xavi’s desire to overhaul the squad is also likely to participate constrained.
However, if Barcelona had been minimally active in the transfer market or had not even recruited a single player, the squad could still compete for the domestic title.
