Barcelona legend Xavi Hernández admitted that not maintaining “high-standards” during his final season managing the club ultimately resulted in his dismissal.
The midfielder turned manager led Barcelona to Spanish Super Cup and La Liga glory in his first term on the touchline in 2022–23. However, his once promising tenure collapsed entirely the following season and Xavi has been out of a job ever since.
Speaking at a conference at Madrid’s ESIC University, a self-critical Xavi opened up about the mistakes he feel led to Barcelona’s 2023–24 struggles and his eventual firing.
“I started my career as Barça manager with high-demands,” he said, via . “For players and the club given the club was coming from a period where there wasn’t a lot of demands. My mistake was maintaining those standards only for one year.”
“[After winning La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup], I lowered those high-standards and the players no longer had that same attitude, that same respect, that effort. The standards kept lowering more and more until the point we didn’t win anything my last season.
“With time, I was able to be self-critical and I told myself: ‘Damn it, what happened to me?’”
