As he clinched his first LaLiga title as manager of the club where he won eight as a player, Xavi Hernandez of Barcelona called it a “magnificent feeling.” This victory ended a drought of four years for the Catalan giants in terms of league championships.
On Sunday, the team captained by Xavi secured the championship when local rivals Espanyol were defeated by them by a score of 4-2 thanks to two goals scored by Robert Lewandowski in the first half.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, two of the greatest players to ever play for Barcelona, were instrumental in the Catalan club’s run to the title of Spanish champions in the 2018–19 season. But because the club was in the midst of a severe financial crisis, both of them were forced to quit, and the team’s fortunes continued to deteriorate.
Despite this, Xavi was able to lead them back to the top of the table in less than two years when he returned to the club to replace Ronald Koeman in November 2021. He also stated that clinching the championship was essential for the club’s future.
After more than ten months of hard labor and personal sacrifice, we have been left with a great sensation. According to Xavi, who spoke to Movistar Plus, “It has been an extraordinary job.”
“Winning it was extremely important for the club and for the supporters because it ensured the long-term viability of the project, and we have no choice but to continue along this road.
“This League means that we are doing things very well, and this gives us stability, although we still have the unfinished business of competing in European competition.”
In each of the last three seasons of the Champions League, Barcelona has been eliminated in the round of 16 before moving on. After a golden period from 2005-19 in which the club won four Champions League titles and ten LaLiga championships, Barcelona has just once reached the semifinals of Europe’s best club tournament since winning the title in 2014-15. This comes after a span in which the club won four Champions League titles and ten LaLiga championships.
This season, however, they have had an exceptional domestic campaign, winning LaLiga with four games to spare and defeating their fiercest rivals Real Madrid in the final of the Spanish Super Cup. They also won the Spanish Super Cup. Xavi acknowledged that he had felt the strain and expressed his gratitude to his family for their support.
“I thought about my wife, my parents, my brothers and sisters… the staff, who have suffered a lot, those who never fail,” Xavi added. “I thought about those who never fail.”
“We are in Spain, and here criticism is normal; it happened to me when I was a player, but I am very stubborn, and in the end, the reward comes when there is good work,” he said. “We are in Spain.”d