On Saturday, in the aftermath of Barcelona’s 5-3 defeat to Villarreal, head coach Xavi Hernandez announced that he would be stepping down from the position at the end of the season. One of the reasons that has been citing by the 44-year-old has been the constant pressure on him and his players from the local media.
Xavi isn’t the first Barcelona manager to complain about this, and there’s no doubt that he won’t be the last. It seems that many are in agreements with his standing on media pressure, including close friend and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, who backed up Xavi’s views when he spoke to the media on Tuesday, as per Diario AS.
“You can’t compare the pressure here in England and in Spain, in my experience. It’s a thousand times harder to coach in Spain than to do it here. This is an ideal site for coaches. Obviously, there are a lot of games and like six press conferences a week and a game every three days, but the pressure felt at Barcelona is not comparable to that of any other club. I understand Xavi perfectly.”
It’s clear that the Catalan media do have a big effect on things at Barcelona. When things are going well, everything is great, but as has been the case over the last few months, things can get ugly when the team is not performing.
Poor xavi, he couldnt deal with pressure of grass being green and Frankfurt fans being too loud. Such an emotional fellow. EL moments got the best of him, it happens…. I assume, because I havent yet been in that humiliating position as fan of my club.
Ahahahahahahahahahah🤣🫵
It’s true pep guardiola