On October 27, 2021, Barcelona were defeated 1–0 by Rayo Vallecano on Matchday 11 of last year’s La Liga Championship. This was the last game with Ronald Koeman on the bench.

The Dutchman was fired a day later on 28 October. The 59-year-old coach managed Barcelona for 67 matches, in which he scored 40 wins, 11 draws and 16 losses.

Xavi’s recruitment stirred up the club’s ranks. The Spaniard hails from the team’s academy and has been a key and indispensable contributor to all the great successes of the past 20 years.

However, the task of the 42-year-old coach was extremely difficult. Messi was no longer in Barcelona, ​​and numerous financial problems forced him to reconsider his transfer policy.

Last year, the Blaugrana did not reach the 1/8 finals of the Champions League. Then, in fact, they were knocked out by Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. On the way to the trophy against the Rangers, the Germans won at the Camp Nou with a score of 3:2.

This season is just as difficult for the Catalans. Barcelona are placed in their Champions League groups along with Bayern Munich and Inter Milan and face the threat of relegation for the second year in a row, with serious financial implications for the club.

Blaugrana were defeated 3-1 by Real Madrid in the big Spanish league derby. Carlo Ancelotti’s team took a 2-0 lead in the first half, while Barcelona cut the lead and had a chance to equalize thanks to Fati. A lucky penalty from Valverde set the final score, with the Madrid side leading the league with 25 points.

This match was Xavi’s 50th on the Barcelona bench. On account of the Spanish coach 28 wins, 11 draws and 11 losses, which is the worst record among all his recent predecessors who led the team.

50 Xavi games🆚50 Koeman games #SportPlus pic.twitter.com/Kv8ydhFm4i

— Football and Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarFutbol) October 16, 2022

Luis Enrique had 42 wins, Pep Guardiola 37 and Ronald Koeman 33. Xavi, in his statements after the end of the derby, took responsibility for the bad image of his team.

“We have to recover and think about the next game. We need to be self-critical and realize that we are not okay and respond immediately. We must change immediately because it makes life difficult for us.

We lacked aggression. We must foul. To be more mature in our game. “Real” used every moment, because they are a team.

I don’t want to hurt my players. I’m in charge. I am the captain of the ship. If we talk about what happened, then specific mistakes were made. We must mature. First it was Inter, then what happened today. We are not doing what we should be doing. We have to become more efficient and use our capabilities, be efficient even if we are not in order,” said the Spanish coach.