Xavi believes the job he has done at Barcelona has not been appreciated enough and expressed his disappointment at his exit from the Catalan club.
It was confirmed on Friday that the 44-year-old had been sacked by Barca, a month after it was announced that he would be staying on as head coach.
The former Spain international announced in January his intention to leave the club at the end of the season, but he was persuaded to reverse his decision in April.
But Barca confirmed that Xavi would leave after their final La Liga game of the season, a 2-1 victory at Sevilla. In 142 games, he achieved 90 wins, 23 draws, and 29 defeats, securing the club’s 27th league title last season.
Speaking after the win over Sevilla on Sunday, Xavi said: “I have the feeling that everything I have done in these two-and-a-half years has caused an earthquake. I have been targeted many times in many situations.
“I think that the work has not been sufficiently appreciated. This year we haven’t been up to the task because of details. We had four key games in which we couldn’t finish the good work we had done.
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“It is not for me to say the reasons or the motives. I think it is up to the president (Joan Laporta) to say them. I had no choice but to accept it. It doesn’t matter if I agree with the arguments.
“I’m not leaving with a sense of relief because we wanted to continue. These are decisions made by the club. We understood and respected that, but we thought it wasn’t over.”
Former Bayern Munich head coach Hansi Flick is set to replace Xavi, with an official announcement expected this week.
Flick, 59, won the treble with Bayern in 2019-20 and has been out of work since being sacked by the German national team in September.
The Barca job will be his first outside of Germany in his career.
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(Joaquin Corchero/Europa Press via Getty Images)
