Xavi Hernández and Luis Enrique Martínez showed that the bitter debate created in the press conferences prior to the tie, where the Spaniard emerged “without a doubt” as the best guarantor of the Barça style ahead of the Egarense, has not affected at all the cordial and friendly relationship that both technicians maintain.
In the bowels of the Parc des Princes stadium, one hour before the start of the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final between PSG and the Blaugrana, the Parisians’ coach and the Barça coach had a relaxed conversation where they intertwined smiles and They concluded with a hug.
“How aggressive!” , in reference to the press conference, before asking him: “How are you?” “Now better,” continued Xavi. “Don’t protest, I’ll shit you, I’ll fuck you by the balls,” concluded the Asturian about the Barça coach’s usual complaints on the wing.
“Look at the statistics, in possession, in high pressure, in titles. I represent him, without a doubt,” the former Barcelona coach between 2014 and 2017 told the media when asked who best represented Barça’s DNA. Luis Enrique won nine titles at that time and his first season, with the triumph of the treble, was his most successful.
“I followed his press conference, yes. What am I going to say, it’s Luis Enrique,” Xavi explained hours later, who already anticipated his “very good relationship” with the man from Gijón. “Both he and Guardiola, like me and even Arteta represent the Barça DNA, what makes us so proud. We look for the same thing, we see football in a global way because we were all midfielders, so in my opinion there is no need to compete among us “added the Catalan.
Xavi Hernández and Luis Enrique coincided at Barça as players between the 1998-99 and 2003-04 seasons, the Asturian’s last at the Catalan club. More than a decade later, in the 2014-15 season, the former Spain coach had the Terrassa coach under him, who after that season concluded his long career with the Barcelona team and headed to Qatar.
