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Former Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has confessed he “understands” Xavi’s concerns about the mental challenges that come with being boss at Camp Nou.
Earlier this week, Xavi confirmed he will step down from his post at the end of the season and claimed the pressure and stress of the job had taken its toll on his mental health, suggesting it is impossible for anybody to enjoy a long career at the club.
Xavi’s departure will come four years and three managers after Ernesto Valverde left Barcelona in January 2020. Now manager of Athletic Club, Valverde admitted he knows exactly what pressures Xavi was referring to.
“Everyone has to make their own decisions. I know what it’s like to be a Barcelona coach and how things work there,” said Valverde, who led the club to two La Liga titles between 2017 and 2020.
“We must not forget that Xavi is the champion of this league and as a player at Barca he won everything. He has made that decision and thinks it’s best for him. There are many things in which I can understand him.”
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Barca president Joan Laporta admitted Xavi’s status as a club legend earned him the right to dictate the terms of his departure.
“Xavi informed me that he would leave at the end of the season,” Laporta said. “He wanted to finish the season and it’s a formula that I accept because it was Xavi who proposed it to me. And he is a Barca legend. He is an honest person; he acts with complete dignity; and he is a person who loves Barca.
“We have to give everything we have to try to win the Champions League. We are in the next round against Napoli, and we are going step by step, and I think that, with commitment, with more character, without losing concentration, with the coach giving everything that I know he will, and with the players fully committed, we will be able to achieve some of the goals we have set for ourselves at the end of the season.
“We had the second-best attendance of the season [against Villarreal], but it’s not just about the attendance, it’s about the fans, cheering at all times, when the team are going through the most difficult times.”
