Xavi the Manager: Strong in Defence and Developing Young Stars

Xavi at Old Trafford would certainly be box-office. Thriller or horror film for Manchester United fans? That’s harder to say.

He won the league in 2022-23 – his first full season as boss of Barcelona – but his second campaign was full of reminders he is an emotional, inexperienced coach, not the second coming of Pep Guardiola so many in Barcelona hoped he would be.

In that first full season, he should take huge credit for Barcelona’s first league title in the post-Lionel Messi era.

He started with two wingers in an adventurous 4-3-3 and, when his team were taken apart by Real Madrid in the first Clasico, he was shrewd enough to switch to playing with an extra midfielder and ended up with 13 victories by 1-0, conceding just 20 times in LaLiga all season.

A wiser, older manager might have made a power grab at that moment. Xavi was never in a stronger position than when he had just won the league, but he seemed powerless as his trusted sporting director Mateu Alemany was replaced by Deco, who was never convinced Xavi was the best man for the Barca job.

Xavi led Barcelona to their first LaLiga triumph of the post-Lionel Messi era in 2023

Barca – with Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the sticks – conceded just 20 goals in 2022-23

Fans demanded fewer 1-0s, more style, and another big trophy in Xavi’s second season. But he floundered, at times paying for surrounding himself with a staff who felt more like friends and family (brother Oscar and the equally inexperienced Sergio Alegre) than anyone with the gravitas to challenge him.

He did guide Barcelona to their first Champions League quarter-final in four years but he was schooled in the second leg by Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique.

Barca’s failure to beat PSG exposed Xavi’s shortcomings. And it was all documented in ZOOMSPORT series You Have No F***ing Idea about Luis Enrique’s first season at PSG. ‘Everything is long ball,’ Luis Enrique tells his staff, likening Barca to second-tier side Eibar as they discuss their opponents.

The PSG manager is also shown plotting a way to defeat Barca in the second leg.

He tells his side to press every defender except Ronald Araujo, who should be allowed to receive the ball. The tactic worked when Araujo gave it away and, with a lunging recovery challenge, brought down Bradley Barcola and was sent off.

Barcelona were still 4-2 up on aggregate when they lost Araujo in that game and a cleverer, calmer boss might have found a way for his team to hold out for an hour at home. But Xavi took off Lamine Yamal, removing Barcelona’s greatest attacking threat, and PSG scored four.

Xavi’s shortcomings as a manager were exposed in Barcelona’s Champions League defeat by Kylian Mbappe’s PSG last season

PSG were happy for Ronald Araujo (left) to have the ball and he was sent off in the first half of the second leg after bringing down Bradley Barcola (right)

Things unravelled in Xavi’s second full season at Barcelona as he struggled to keep his emotions in check

Calmness was missing too often from Xavi’s demeanour. He was sent off three times in that second season. As a player, he only saw red twice in 767 games.

His emotional character also played a part in the farcical nature of his long, drawn-out departure.

He announced he would be leaving after a 5-3 home defeat by Villarreal in January. Then, at the end of April, after a strong run of results, he said he was staying. Results dipped again, and just a month later the club fired him.

A 4-2 defeat by Girona did not help. It looked like the neighbouring minnows might even pip Barca to second spot under the guidance of the impressive Michel Sanchez, whose team had also beaten Xavi’s men 4-2 in the reverse fixture. It was another occasion when the Barca boss had been outcoached.

Perhaps his greatest legacy as a manager is his record with young players. The development of midfielder Gavi, defenders Alejandro Balde and Pau Cubarsi, and the brilliant Yamal all owe something to Xavi.

‘I’ll always be with you, coach,’ Gavi posted on social media last season. Those two had a strong connection – both led by the heart as much as the head.

Part of Xavi’s problem at Barcelona was that, having spent his whole life at the club, he was too embroiled in the intricacies of the eternal soap opera and could never switch off from it.

Xavi is strong at developing young talents, and handed Lamine Yamal his senior debut

Xavi was also happy to bring teenage defender Pau Cubarsi (pictured) into the first team, but doubts remain over his managerial skills

Some coaches, particularly those managing abroad, can be blissfully unaware of simmering doubts, or dark manoeuvrings against them. Xavi knew of every critical piece written about him and who had written it.

He occasionally responded in public, when staying quiet might have been more dignified.

At Manchester United – or anywhere else – he would surely be more detached and that might be the making of him. He speaks English, is generous and engaging with the media in frank interviews, and does famously long press conferences.

The passion has not dimmed, either. He still kicks every ball. He is probably just never going to win as much as a manager as he did when kicking the ball was all he had to worry about.