Joan Laporta is with both the team and Xavi Hernández after the defeat to Villarreal and the coach’s announcement that he will step down at the end of the season. As such, FC Barcelona’s president stopped by the Ciutat Esportiva on Sunday morning to say a few words to the squad.
Prior to training, Xavi Hernández explained the reason for the decision he announced yesterday, and then Joan Laporta followed up once the training session on the Tito Vilanova pitch had come to an end.
The president and Xavi standing together shows that the Board of Directors are with the coach, which he himself highlighted during the Villarreal post-match press conference. Furthermore, he encouraged the players to be positive and urged them to keep fighting during the final four decisive months of the season.
Laporta then took time to speak with the Club’s media, explaining “Xavi informed me that he would leave at the end of the season. He wanted to finish the season and it’s a formula that I accept because it was Xavi who proposed it to me. And he is a Barça legend. He is an honest person; he acts with complete dignity; and he is a person who loves Barça.”
Decision taken on board, Laporta wanted to focus on the remaining months of the season, stating “we have to give everything we have to try to win the Champions League. We are in the next round against Napoli, and we are going step by step, and I think that, with commitment, with more character, without losing concentration, with the coach giving everything that I know he will, and with the players fully committed, we will be able to achieve some of the goals we have set for ourselves at the end of the season.”
Lastly, he addressed the FC Barcelona fans as follows, “This is a complicated season. We already knew that we had to go to Montjuïc. We will return to Spotify Camp Nou at the end of this year if there are no unforeseen issues. In principle, everything is going according to plan.
And, first of all, I want to thank you for your commitment to the team, and to the Club, because the fans are responding. We had the second-best attendance yesterday, but it’s not just about the attendance, it’s about the fans, cheering at all times, when the team are going through the most difficult times. I want to thank you for that and I ask you to keep it up. To make the effort of going to Montjuïc to cheer on Barça again when we play Osasuna.”
