Xavi Hernandez Threatened With Dismissal, Barcelona Has Prepared A Replacement

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez. (fcbarcelona.com)

JAKARTA - Coach Xavi Hernandez will not last long Barcelona. He even faces a faster dismissal if Barca loses against Valencia. However, Barca has no candidate to replace him so as to prepare a coach who is an 'insider'.

Barca can't wait to reap the achievements of Xavi. Even though they have given the La Liga and Supercopa de Espana trophies, these two titles are still very few. Barca was not flooded with trophies like the previous era when they were handled by Pep Guardiola or Luis Enrique.

Not only that, two consecutive defeats made Xavi's performance get a red report card. After losing 4-2 to Girona in the La Lga Spain competition, the Blaugrana then surrendered 3-2 against Royalikarp in the Champions League.

The match againstdaswerp actually had no effect because Barca had already qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League. Xavi also fielded the second-tier players more, including them from the La Masia academy.

Not only Marc Guiu, even his colleague in the U-17 national team, Hector Fort started the match. Both have just returned from Indonesia after bringing Spain to the quarter-finals of the 2023 U-17 World Cup.

However, Xavi's performance was still considered bad, so rumors circulated that he would be dismissed. The match against Valencia, Sunday, December 17 in the morning WIB, became the fate of the former Al Sadd coach. Is it still dealing with Barca or being dismissed.

It's just that despite planning to fire Xavi, Barca doesn't have much choice to replace him. The club finally chose 'insiders' by preparing Rafael Marquez who is currently handling Barcelona B or Barcelona Athletics.

Marquez's appointment is not without risk. Especially the experience sector because he has never handled a senior team. The former Mexican national team player has only been a coach for the last two years. That's even in the junior teams.

Marquez himself was none other than Xavi's former colleague while defending Barca for seven seasons.

He played 242 times from 2003 to 2010 by winning four La Liga trophies, the Copa del Rey and two Champions League champions.

Since July 2022, he has handled Barcelona B and has signed a two-year-old contract. The 44-year-old coach is Deco's favorite, the club's Football Director, to replace Xavi. Deco actually has a close relationship with Xavi. They often discuss the team's technicalities because of Deco's status as director of football. Only then did he criticize Xavi following the defeat in the Champions League.

According to information, Xavi feels cornered which makes their relationship strained. More than that, the fate of the former player who won 25 trophies with Barca is becoming increasingly uncertain. He was just waiting for the time when he was dismissed.

Club president Joan Laporta actually wants to keep the former player who brought Spain to win the 2010 World Cup and two-time Euro 2008 and 2012 champions until his term of office is complete by 2025.

Moreover, during his time as club president, Laporta rarely fired coaches in the middle of competitions. Ronald Koeman was the only coach Laporta dismissed in the middle of the competition.

It's just that some members of the board of directors want Xavi's dismissal to be carried out faster. Even the match against Valencia was Xavi's last bet.