“The idea is to continue until June 30 and then I will rest”, said a cautious Xavi Hernández yesterday. Without ruling out even the slightest loophole for speculation. Without rejecting a change of script that is always possible in this FC Barcelona that makes him change his mind. Although the League depends on others, the door to the Champions League is still open and, with it, the option for the season to end magnificently. In addition, Xavi says that he is involved in the planning of the coming season “because I love this club, and in any situation in which I can help, I will”.
Some, like sports vice-president Rafa Yuste, would applaud his help and his continuity. As it already happened before the match against Napoli and facing an appointment marked in red, Yuste returned yesterday to greet all the footballers and, of course, Xavi, in the last training session before traveling to Madrid to face today at Atlético de Simeone. “It is a vital match. Like all the rest of us”, said Xavi, who remembered that the option of winning the League is in other people’s hands.
Even so, the game against the white-and-red is marked as particularly dangerous. For the sweet moment that Atlético is going through after reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League against Inter. And because the game is played at the Metropolitano, a fort in which Simeone’s side have only suffered a draw against Getafe in La Liga and a defeat in the Copa del Rey against Athletic. “But the last ones we won in that stadium were us last year”, recalled Xavi. He was referring to the last athletic defeat in the League on January 8, 2023 (0-1), with a goal by Ousmane Dembélé, now at Luis Enrique’s PSG, Barça’s next opponent in the Champions League. “It will be very difficult”, considered Xavi, since the French club is the favorite for its financial capacity to sign what it wants, for the presence of Mbappé and of course for that of Luis Enrique. “He is a brilliant coach. One of the best in Europe. I know him well”, praised Xavi.
Faced with the talent of footballers like Mbappé, Barcelona will respond with the fruits of the Masia, represented by footballers like Pau Cubarsí or Lamine Yamal, both minors. “Perhaps Luis Enrique and his team see an inexperienced team, but we have recovered the illusion. Football-wise and financially, it was needed”, emphasized Xavi, who took the opportunity to congratulate Cubarsí on his first call-up with the Spanish national team for the matches against Colombia and Brazil, the last test benches before the Euros. The 17-year-old central started this season with the under 17 team and will finish it under the orders of Luis de la Fuente without going through either the under 19 or the under 21. “He deserves it. Luis de la Fuente has also been brave in calling him. We hope that the Pedri case will not be repeated, but I cannot decide whether he will go to the Olympic Games and also to the Eurocup”, warned Xavi, who recalled that the Canarian competed in both competitions in 2021. Until then, Pedri is not ‘had ever injured. The movie changed after that.
There are two weeks of downtime coming up and four to go before the European tie against PSG. Barcelona hopes to maintain the state of confidence and excitement it is in. Just like Atlético. The match will demand “a lot of personality” from all the players, and in particular from João Félix in his first visit to the Metropolitano wearing the Barça shirt. “Personally, I liked playing in hostile fields to show what I’m worth. João Félix has all the characteristics to play a great game, he is extra motivated”, said Xavi of the Portuguese winger, on loan from Atlético, who already scored in Montjuïc. A goal from him destabilized the clash and gave the Blaugrana team the three points in the Portuguese’s best game with Barcelona so far.
