Pep Guardiola best coach in the world right now: Xavi
Xavi, who too was at Camp Nou during Guardiola's four-year stint as manager of Barcelona, said that it was a privilege for him to have the coach contributing ideas.
In his official presentation as FC Barcelona’s new coach at the Camp Nou Stadium, Xavi Hernandez vowed hard effort and discipline.
On Monday night, more than 9,500 supporters packed the Camp Nou Stadium to see the 41-year-old return to the club where he spent 17 years as a player, probably the most successful time in the club’s history.
As a player, Xavi helped define an era and was one of the architects of Barcelona’s famous passing style, but he now returns to a club in turmoil, with debts of more than 1.3 billion euros limiting their transfer market options.
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Barca is currently ninth in La Liga, 11 points behind league leaders Real Sociedad and 10 behind eternal rivals Real Madrid, with injuries to key players not helping dressing room confidence, reports Xinhua. “My idea is to help the players. I understand that Barca is difficult,” said Xavi, who said the “psychological issue is very hard and we are going to help them on a personal level. It is not about being tough. It’s about helping and working as a team,” he added.
However, the former player stated that he would expect his team to work hard. “It’s all about winning at Barca. To get results, we must put in a lot of effort and expect a lot of ourselves.”
Despite insisting that it was a “long-term” project, Xavi stated that he would get started on his plans right now. “My plan is to assist in the recovery of athletes and the formation of a team so that we can all row in the same direction as a family. We want people to swiftly adopt the concepts so that we can fight with Espanyol “After the international break on November 20, who will be Barca’s first opponents?
He also talked about his style of play, noting that he wanted to bring back some of Barca’s ancient values.
“We want to pressure high up the field and not wait and see what happens. We want to be aggressive and to go on the attack. I don’t think I’m giving anything away, because this is what has made us great. We have to attack. We are Barca and we have to win,” commented Xavi.
(With IANS inputs)
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