LAST CHANCE
Xavi’s on his final warning at Barcelona after club president goes berserk in hospitality box
WHEN Barcelona were embarrassed last weekend, drawing 3-3 at home to second-frombottom Granada, club president Joan Laporta took it out on the canapes, angrily turning over a tray of spring rolls in a hospitality box.
The next time it happens it will be Xavi and not the buffet that gets it — one more humiliation and he’s out.
The good news for Barca’s beleaguered coach is that Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 game is against Napoli and they are in almost as bad a state as Barcelona.
Xavi would have been fired after losing 5-3 at home to Villarreal last month but he asked to stay until the end of the season and Laporta agreed. ‘We let him because of who he is,’ he said in a recent interview.
Barcelona have the worst defensive record of any team in the top-five European Leagues in 2024, conceding 23 goals in 11 games since the start of the year.
Xavi has moved former Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen into midfield to try and plug the gaps but the 3-3 draw last weekend suggests it’s not working.
Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri also has no defence. His team have conceded 27 goals in 23 games — that’s only one fewer than in the whole of last season — and they are 25 points behind leaders Inter.
Barca’s problems are worse because they extend beyond the pitch. Candidates sounded out about taking over from Xavi — Hansi Flick remains a contender, having signed with Robert Lewandowski’s agent Pini Zahavi — are being told several of the best players will need to be sold this summer.
There have been various attempts to push Frenkie de Jong out in recent years and, after only winning one league and one cup in four seasons, he is warming to the idea of moving on. Ronald Araujo is another saleable asset being pushed towards the exit door. The club can only afford to keep the pair if they sign contract extensions that include pay-cuts — and neither are keen to do that.
These players have no reason to make sacrifices just to help Barcelona. The same applies to kit makers Nike, who president Laporta laughably criticised recently for not upping payments on a deal that was signed in 2016 and runs until 2028. ‘When we told them other brands would pay us more, they made a effort which we appreciate, but it was not enough,’ Laporta said.
A fall in projected revenue because of a temporary stadium displacement, a still-excessive wage bill, a potential £19.5million tax bill for disguising payments to players as payments to agents (subject to a High Court appeal), plus the failing of a plan to sell off chunks of the club because investors have reneged on payments, all create a desperate short-termism that heaps pressure on the coach and players.
The financial consequences if Barcelona don’t qualify for the Champions League next season are unthinkable. That’s why Xavi is for the chop if today’s visit to Rafa Benitez’s Celta Vigo and Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg against Napoli don’t go to plan.
‘Xavi, we need a solution now,’ is what Laporta reportedly said to his coach after last week’s scene in hospitality. No amount of canape trays at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium next week will save him if there is another almighty humbling.