If their expensive summer business doesn’t result in trophies this season, Barcelona boss Xavi claims he will be fired and replaced by a new coach.
The summer transfer window saw Xavi receive approximately £150m worth of new players from the club.
The additions of Franck Kessie, Jules Kounde, Raphinha, Andreas Christensen, and Robert Lewandowski significantly raised expectations at the team.
However, the Catalans have fallen short of expectations thus far this season, losing two of their first four Champions League games to put themselves in danger of exiting the group stage.
Thereafter, they fell to Real Madrid on Sunday in the El Clasico, to heap more pressure on Xavi.
What Did Xavi Say?
The legendary former Barca midfielder confesses his head is on the chopping block as the pressure mounts on him to get his new-look team competing for hardware.
“With the effort made by the club and the squad we have, we have to compete for trophies,” he said at his press conference ahead of Thursday’s clash with Villarreal.
“And if we don’t win, as the president said, there will be consequences, starting with me. If we don’t win, another coach will come in. But I am going to give everything so that this works.”
🎙 Xavi: “I’m going to give my all to change our situation” pic.twitter.com/EogE7C9WI3
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 19, 2022
Despite the questions that remain, Xavi’s team are only three points behind LaLiga leaders Real, thus a title victory is still very much within their grasp this season.
However, their chances of making it to the Champions League knockout stages are far lower.
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If Inter defeats Viktoria Plzen at 5:45pm next Wednesday, by the time Barca line up against Bayern Munich at 8pm they will already be out of the competition.
“The team’s situation is what it is,” Xavi said. “We started like a shot and now we’re not so good. This doesn’t stop me. We have to go step by step.
“We are three points behind the [LaLiga] leader and we have to continue. This is too long and we can’t stop. The road from success to defeat is so small.’
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