Laporta emphasizes trust in Xavi and reveals Antwerp list episode

Joan Laporta He spoke about the situation in an interview with Agencia EFE. Xavi Hernandez. The Chairman made it clear that the coach has and deserves the full confidence of the Board. Additionally, he spoke about his controversial next call. antwerp, reveals how events happened. Next, questions were asked about the relationship between the president and the coach and the aforementioned list of final Champions League matches.

Question: Is there any doubt about Xavi’s continuity?

Answer: You have and deserve our full confidence. When you give people confidence, they give their best. We have absolute confidence in Xavi. Not only knowledge, he is a great coach, but he also has the virtue of being a resilient person who protects his players, which is a huge advantage for Xavi. He had to overcome a lot of adversity this season due to injuries, but he is overcoming it. His post-game analysis was great, and when I listened to his press conference, I said,

Q: What is your relationship with Xavi?

A: My relationship with Xavi is very good. That’s normal because he’s our coach. We have a history together and have a very good relationship.

Q: A video of Johan Cruyff has gone viral online in which he advises Xavi that if he is to survive at Barça he needs to “get rid of him thoroughly” (on duty). . Did you understand that Xavi told you not to go to the locker room too often or only for special occasions?

A: Xavi didn’t tell me this (smiles) because I’m not the president who goes to the locker room every day and attends all the training sessions. I only go down when I think I have to go down, but of course always in agreement with the coach. It is very important to spread out the roles and have everyone do their part. Players must compete to win. Train coaches to build competitive teams. Mr. President in charge…if we don’t do it this way, we’ll be wrong. Because that’s already happened in the past, roles changed, players ended up in charge, and we got here. Arrived. Those of us who have taken the reins of the club have suffered a tragic legacy as a result, and this should not have happened. Everyone must know what their role is. I’m not a very aggressive president. I love football and they taught me a lot of things and that’s how I do it.

Q: Was there a difference in standards between the club (Deco) and Xavi due to the changes in the squad for the match in Antwerp?

A: We were going to make an agreement with the coach and Deco and do some “team building.” Since the journey was long, the physical therapist recommended that we stay there. The players told me they wanted to return after the game, but in the end we preferred to remain there as rest was the most appropriate thing to do according to the doctors.

Q: Regarding your future as a coach, have you always said that there will be consequences if you lose?

A: There are always consequences when you lose. If we don’t win the title this season, we will have to make the decisions that the club needs most based on our past performance. The point is that we live in every competition. We aim to win every competition we participate in. The Super Cup is about to begin, and the Copa del Rey match against Barbastro begins. We are in the league, a long way from the top, but we are third and the important thing is always how it ends. At the moment we are in a slump and our direct competitors are keeping pace, but I think they will also be in a slump and we will move in a better direction. Because we have already recovered some players who were injured and this will be the basis for that. team. I have high expectations of winning every competition I participate in. I remain optimistic about the team.

Q: Xavi says his project is half done after two years. Did you think the team would play better football?

A: Xavi is in very good form and is a very resilient person. Overall, the team is getting stronger and stronger. Last year we won the league and the Super Cup and we hope to win more titles this year. If injuries are respected and everything goes the way we want, I think we can repeat last year and achieve something more. Xavi has the necessary resistance at the right time. He knows what the team is missing and what it takes to have the cruising speed to win, but it’s important that we don’t let a moment of lapse of concentration with the game in front of us ruin the game. Give a penalty to…you know what this is. We will definitely fix it.

Q: But the competition is even worse now that the teams are stronger than last year. How do you explain it?

A: Because of the long-term injury to Pedri or De Jong, we have two players who will force us to control the ball. To me, this is one of the keys to this team, which is better than last year, not achieving the level that everyone expected. With the retrieval of these players, the level is starting to pick up again and we are finding out how we play again. Maybe the players with Gabi’s bloodline who give us a different balance now that we have control of the ball are injured…but I think the team is even better. I am confident that we will move forward.