Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has responded to the tongue-in-cheek nickname he has been given in Madrid, following his complaints about the length of the grass in some grounds Barcelona have played at.
Xavi spoke out after their match against Getafe, complaining that the grass was too long and dry, inhibiting their game. It has been a point of contention for many, and an issue that Xavi has complained about since he was a player.
He was asked what he made of the fact that in Madrid he was referred to derisively as ‘the gardener’ for his comments on the grass.
“It makes me laugh. That’s from many years though. I’m not going to stop. Better a gardener than anything else. I take it as a joke, honestly. Let them call me that for many more years. I won’t stop.”
“I think in a few years time we will throw our hands on our head and say ‘my God, what were we doing when we didn’t have added time, or when the pitch was waterlogged, or when the grass was like that.’ I won’t stop until football is more fair for everyone. No matter how many years they call me ‘gardener’.”
Xavi would later go on to say that he hoped that the grass would meet the regulations when they took to the pitch on Wednesday night against Rayo Vallecano.
Generally, Rayo tend to keep the grass short and easy to play on. Ahead of the Atletico Madrid game, Xavi compared it to Lebron James playing on a wet basketball court when the grass was dry and long.
