:strip_icc()/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_bc8228b6673f488aa253bbcb03c80ec5/internal_photos/bs/2021/5/j/gIm1eBRBGIJQ4yv2BYeA/gettyimages-1194676978.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "Barcelona announces Xavi Hernández as new coach | spanish football")
Relief for the culé fans! Xavi Hernandez is the new coach of the Barcelona. The official announcement was made this Friday night in Brazil, at dawn on Saturday in Spain, hours after the termination of his contract with Al-Sadd, from Qatar. The Barça idol signed a contract with the club until June 30, 2024.
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Xavi will travel to Catalonia this weekend. Its official presentation will be at 8:00 am (GMT) next Monday, at the Camp Nou, in an event open to the Catalan fans. Afterwards, he will grant a press conference. In a video released on Barça’s social networks, the former midfielder gave his first message to the crowd:
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“It wasn’t goodbye, it was goodbye. Camp Nou has always been my home. They’re my fans, my people, the club I love the most. And now, I’m coming home. See you soon, culés! Go Barcelona!”
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This Saturday, against Celta de Vigo, Barcelona B coach Sergi Barjuán will still be the commander on the edge of the pitch. Afterwards, the competitions will have a break for the FIFA Date. Therefore, the Xavi’s first game in charge of Barça should only be on 20 November, in the derby against Espanyol, at Camp Nou.
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The main problem in the negotiation was the payment of the fine for the termination of Xavi’s contract with Al-Sadd, stipulated at five million euros. Despite the statement from the Qatari club, Barcelona officials subsequently denied that there would be any agreement to settle this dispute. This created noise between the parties.
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To resolve the issue once and for all, according to the newspapers “Sport” and “Mundo Deportivo”, Xavi and Barcelona then decided to split the payment of those five million euros between them., that is, 2.5 million for each.
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Xavi arrives to replace the Dutchman Ronald Koeman, who was fired after the defeat by Rayo Vallecano. In the meantime, who commanded the team was the interim Sergi Barjuan. The former midfielder will fulfill, at 41, the goal of leading the first team, something that had existed since 2015, when he left Barcelona.
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at that time, he said goodbye and made it clear that he would return in another role. The Spaniard played for four years as a player at Al Sadd and then began his coaching career for the Qatar team in mid-2019.
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His first chance to take over at Barcelona was in January of last year, as Ernesto Valverde’s replacement. Nonetheless, Xavi refused the proposal because he thought it was “too early”. The time has come.
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Xavi is the second player with the most games in Barcelona’s history, 767, just 11 short of record holder Lionel Messi. Between 1998 and 2015, he won 25 titles, including four editions of the Champions League and eight cups of the Spanish Championship.
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The former midfielder was in his third season as manager of Al Sadd. In just over two years at the helm of the Qatari team, Xavi won seven cups, all national, including a league from Qatar.
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He should take the coaching staff that worked with him at Al-Sadd to Barcelona, with seven assistants: Óscar Hernández and Sergio Alegre as assistants, physical trainer Iván Torres, physiotherapist Carlos Nogueira, and observers David Prats, Toni Lobo and Sergio Garcia. Most have passed through Barça’s youth categories.
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Xavi Hernández won seven coaching titles at Al Sadd — Photo: Getty Images
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