Back To Barcelona And Compared To Guardiola, Xavi: He's My Role Model

Xavi (Twitter @FCBarcelona)

JAKARTA - Xavi Hernandez returns to Barcelona, no longer as a player but is believed to be a coach. Xavi began joining the Blaugrana to replace Ronald Koeman on Monday, November 8.

It didn't take long, two days later the club immediately announced and introduced Xavi to the Barcelona public. The return of Xavi to fill the coaching chair is then a big hope for the fans.

Xavi is even expected to be a comparison and can repeat the footsteps of Josep Guardiola's success who had led in the 2008-2012 era. Regarding himself being compared to Guardiola, Xavi feels flattered, because he thinks Guardiola is a role model on the pitch

"Being compared to him (Guardiola) is an achievement, especially for everything he has done," Xavi was quoted as saying by Marca on Tuesday.

"He is a role model for me, the best in the world."

Guardiola himself is a coach who is quite productive in providing good results for the Blaugrana. During his tenure, he has even presented 14 trophies from various competitions.

Apart from having proven his achievements, Xavi's admiration for Guardiola is also due to his personal experience. Guardiola took over the club in 2008, at that time Xavi was still playing for Barcelona as a player.

When under Guardiola, Xavi has always been the coach's mainstay player to fill the midfield. He also admitted to learning a lot from Guardiola, especially about his obsession.

"I swear. He is a perfectionist. If Pep decides to become a musician, he will be a good musician," said Xavi.

"If he wants to be a psychologist, he's going to be a good psychologist. He's obsessive, he's going to keep doing it until he gets it right."

"He demands so much of himself. And the pressure he puts on himself, the demands are contagious, it spreads to everyone."

"He wants everything to be perfect. He is a pesado (hard worker)," said Xavi.

Previously it was known that Xavi was brought by Barcelona to Camp Nou from Qatari League club Al-Sadd. To bring in Xavi, Barca had to spend 5 million euros, or around Rp. 82.7 billion.