Coach before friend: the difficult relationship between Xavi and Piqué

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For

it was not so complicated.

When he decided that three players with so much weight in the locker room such as

could not continue at Barça after his arrival on the bench, no matter how much the Cameroonian stayed on for another year, he did not have the baggage of having shared locker room with them as a footballer.

For this reason, it

was a very hard drink for

, last summer, that this course was not going to have the prominence of yesteryear.

Still, he didn't shake his pulse either.

The needs of the team, of the club, were, and are, above friendship.

Tell him that there are people who have passed someone with whom you have lifted trophies such as the Champions League, the European Championship or the title of World Champion, with whom you have shared bad drinks, or with whom you have stepped on the same pitch day after day is not easy.

More than two years ago, Piqué himself, after

, assured that he would leave to give in new blood if it was considered that he could no longer give everything for the team.

All in all, for sure, Xavi's sincerity must have hit him like a punch in the pit of his stomach.

Especially since last season he was one of the mainstays behind.

“When I communicated my intentions to him, it was one of the most difficult days of my coaching career, because he is a teammate and I have great esteem for him.

As soon as the time comes when you are no longer important, you feel very bad, I understand, because I have also been through that, ”said the coach at the press conference prior to the match against Almería, monopolized by the goodbye of Pique.

As much as he was a bad drink, Xavi always had it very clear: before being a friend, he is a coach.

And, above all, he owes it to Barça.

«

The soccer player, when you don't put it on, he feels that the culprit is the coach.

You have to deal with that, and sometimes it's unpleasant to make these kinds of decisions with teammates like Piqué or Alves, but in the end what he commands is work », he stressed.

The current Barça coach, moreover, insisted a lot that his relationship with the central defender has not deteriorated since he told him last summer that he was going to lose prominence.

“The relationship is the same as before, there is no bad relationship.

Simply, I have to make decisions for the good of the team and for the good of the club.

When you don't put someone who has been so much for this entity, they don't like it, but it hasn't cooled down.

Not at all," he assured.

“There is nothing to blame him for.

It has not been something personal at all, only football.

I have no problem with Gerard, on the contrary.

He has added and, if he continued, he would continue adding.

He has always given 100%, he played whatever he played", reiterated a Xavi who did not hesitate to describe him as"

».

"He has earned the right to choose how and when to say goodbye," she added.

From his point of view, Piqué's decision has been caused by a series of circumstances in which, of course, his conversation had a lot of weight.

The center-back also received a loud whistle when he jumped onto the pitch during the match that Barça played against Villarreal on October 20.

Many pointed to him as

team's latest European debacle.

Against Inter, he made two serious mistakes, in a duel that ended 3-3 and practically leaving the team out of the knockout stages of the Champions League.

This same Saturday, against Almería, as much as he was reluctant to reveal whether or not he will give him a few minutes, Xavi wants his fans to say goodbye to him as he deserves.

«For us, Gerard's farewell is an extra motivation.

We want to give him the three points, good feelings, that people encourage him, applaud him, chant him, his name, because it is what he deserves, for the extraordinary career he has done.

We want it to be a big day for him," said the Barça coach.

"He deserves all the praise.

Due to a series of circumstances, he has decided to put an end to it.

He still has a contract, but he shows spectacular greatness by taking this step to the side.

He is a club legend », he insisted.

However, the duel against Almería, if he has minutes, may not be the last of Piqué wearing the Barça shield on the pitch.

As revealed by Xavi himself,

, the last one before the break for the World Cup in Qatar.

Later, as he explained, together with

, director of football, and the president,

, the situation will be analyzed with a view to a winter market in which another central defender could arrive.

"Since there is room, we'll see what we can do," he said.

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• Xavi Hernandez

• Joan Laporta

• Gerard Piqué

• FC Barcelona