After a surprising 5-3 loss to Villarreal on Saturday, Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez introduced that he’ll step down as coach on the finish of the season. The previous Barcelona midfielder is lower than a season faraway from main the membership to a La Liga title however after dropping the Spanish Tremendous Cup to Actual Madrid and being knocked out of the Copa Del Rey by the hands of Atletico Bilbao, whereas additionally trailing Actual Madrid within the La Liga race by 10 factors, Barcelona’s possibilities at glory this season are dwindling regardless of reaching the final 16 of Champions League.

“I wish to announce that on June 30 I’ll not proceed because the coach at Barça,” Xavi stated. “I believe the state of affairs wants to alter course, and as a culer, I can not enable the present state of affairs.”   

Already pondering his future after the Copa Del Rey loss to Bilbao, Xavi stated that if Barcelona weren’t on the degree of competitiveness anticipated on the finish of the season, it might be regular that he must depart and the loss to Villarreal actually was a second that Barcelona lacked competitiveness permitting two targets after the ninetieth minute of play to drop all three factors.

As supervisor of Barcelona, Xavi has gained La Liga and the Spanish Tremendous Cup after taking cost of the membership in 2021 after taking on for Ronald Koeman, however a scarcity of consistency means the top is close to. Throughout his time accountable for Barcelona, Xavi has managed 122 matches with a 76-20-26 document, averaging 2.03 factors per match in all competitions.

What occurred in opposition to Villarreal

It was a stoppage-time catastrophe for Barcelona in opposition to Villarreal. Preventing again from being down 2-0 after 55 minutes of play, it appeared like Barca would pull off a gritty efficiency that confirmed that perhaps the workforce had one thing optimistic to play for beneath Xavi however that hope shortly evaporated as Villarreal drew degree within the 84th minute of play when Goncalo Guedes scored.

With solely stoppage time to go, it felt like Barcelona should nab some extent earlier than Alexander Soloroth obtained rewarded for his good play, discovering the again of the online within the 99th minute to associate with two assists. The Yellow Submarine would then rub salt in Barcelona’s wounds with Jose Morales scoring three minutes later within the 102nd minute of play.

What has gone mistaken in 2024

All concern of taking part in Barcelona has evaporated and the season is near descending into chaos. Barcelona have not stored a clear sheet of their final 5 matches in all competitions, conceding 16 targets whereas solely scoring 13. The targets scored would counsel that attacking is the least of Barcelona’s issues however a traditionally good protection has disappeared in a single day and Barcelona have completed nothing to cease the bleeding. Their solely January addition has been the early arrival of Vitor Roque from Athletico Paranaense in Brazil as monetary restrictions hampered Barcelona’s means so as to add defensive reinforcements, and an damage to Marc-Andre ter Stegen left the protection out to dry.

After solely conceding 20 La Liga targets in all the 2022-23 season en path to profitable the title, Barcelona have conceded 29 at simply previous the midway level, and no degree of targets scored will flip that right into a title-winning workforce. It is going to be a protracted street again to dominance for Barcelona however Xavi will not be the person to steer them there.