Xavi Hernandez was able to bow out from his position as the head coach of the Barcelona first team with a victory over Sevilla last night. With this match, Xavi’s current tenure as the Barcelona trainer comes to an end as the club had already announced that he would be dismissed after this game.
As a result, most of the eyes were focused on Xavi in this match, as the team said their goodbyes to the departing coach. As SPORT has reported, the club captain Marc Andre Ter Stegen was one of the individuals who thanked Xavi as he spoke to the media after the match.
The Barcelona goalkeeper highlighted everything that Xavi contributed to the team, and wished him the best for the future:
“As a professional, Xavi has given us so much. He worked hard every day to help us. I am very grateful to him. Personally, he has been a friend for many years. It’s never easy when someone like him leaves the club. I wish him all the best and hope he rests well. We will always support him.”
Ter Stegen did not celebrate finishing second in the league, although the team had to fight with Girona to get this spot. He also did not want to talk about the next season too much, but hoped that the upcoming season would be more successful for the team than this one, especially with all the good players in the team:
“We have many high-level players, and we need to work much more on an individual level to be in better positions and compete against anyone next year.”
For now, there is still a lot of uncertainty at the club, which is normal as the team is changing its head coach after Xavi’s two-and-a-half year in charge.
Hansi Flick is expected to take over the reins of the team from the former midfielder in the coming days, and hopefully, Ter Stegen under his compatriot will be able to enjoy a more successful next season.