Petit quotes

“I think you have so many reasons for that. There has been so many fights on and off the pitch. I’ve been told that Xavi has some problems with Deco, we all know the troubles that they have been having financially for many years too. We know that they have had difficulties in paying in their players, especially because of the COVID pandemic.”

“They’ve conceded far too many goals in recent weeks. Last season they were very difficult to beat, they barely conceded. It’s not the same structure, they don’t have the same heart as before. They don’t have enough mental strength, they don’t kill games off when they have the chance. They aren’t the same team, they don’t have the same confidence as before. They have so many problems, and I’m not even talking about Xavi, about the pressure on him.”

“Top players have been injured for many weeks – they’ve lost the spine of the team. I have to ask, why Ousmane Dembele hasn’t been injured with Paris Saint-Germain? He’s been injured so many times at Barcelona, so can anyone explain that situation?”

“Xavi said he’s going to leave at the end of the season, he could even quit sooner. My feeling from the outside is that Xavi has had enough of the situation – I think he’s tired of it, I think the players can feel that too, and they are also tired of the situation.”

“It’s easy for Xavi to blame the media. In modern football, even in the past, it’s very rare to stay at a club for 20 years. The last case has been Jurgen Klopp with Liverpool, or Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Before that, it was Arsene Wenger (at Arsenal).”

“I know that Xavi has been complaining about many things over the last few months – referees, money, players or anything. Barcelona fans will always love Xavi for what he has done at the club, especially as a player, but when you manage a big club like this, you have to be aware that you are under pressure every single game. When things don’t turn around in a good way, you are under pressure.”

“It was the case when I was at Barcelona. Every day at training, we were in front of 15 journalists for every session, and they were trying to create stories or sensations. It’s always been like that, so Xavi knows the reality with managing big clubs like this because he has been with Barcelona for years. He knows when you are at big clubs like this, you don’t have time to create a vision, especially when we all know Barcelona’s DNA of tiki-taka, attacking football all the time.”

“The pressure in Spain is much higher than here in France. The football for passion isn’t as high as places like Spain, England or Italy. I’m very surprised when some managers or players are shocked with the criticism they are getting – if you don’t want to deal with big speculation, don’t manage at top clubs. Go to the second division or change sports, it’s as simple as that. If you want to manage at Barcelona, to compete with the biggest clubs on the biggest stage, you need to know what it takes, so don’t complain.”

“There are some big name managers on the market at the moment. You have Flick, Mourinho, Conte, Klopp. I would say that Klopp is definitely the best solution for Barcelona, but he’s taking a sabbatical. He’ll take months to recover – I love Klopp, he’s always honest and he gets straight to the point.”