Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said that Xavi Hernandez’s firing by the club of his life will be … [+]
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said that Xavi Hernandez’s firing by the club of his life will be “good for Xavi and maybe also for Barcelona” during an interview with El Chiringuito.
Xavi was dismissed last week, with comments he made about FC Barcelona’s financial predicament, and how if affects being able to keep pace with Madrid, believed to be the main cause for President Joan Laporta’s change of heart just a month after getting his now former-manager to agree to see out his contract until June 30, 2025.
Ahead of the Champions League final on Saturday, Ancelotti was asked about the development and noted that it is “part of a coach’s job”.
“I think Xavi is a bit annoyed by what he’s done, because I think it’s the first time he’s been sacked, but with time I think he’ll understand it as part of the job.
“When there is no good relationship between the club and the coach, the best thing to do is to part ways. It’s happened to me many times, it happened to me at Napoli, Bayern Munich, Chelsea… It’s better to separate and I think it’s good for Xavi and maybe also for Barcelona,” Ancelotti suggested.
One of the other reasons that Xavi was shown the exit door for was being unable to replicate a style of play that honoured the club’s DNA and harked back to a golden era in the late 2000s to early 2010s where he was an integral part of the midfield.
“Barca has created its history in recent years thanks to a very clear identity of play with players of this profile: Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets…”, Ancelotti noted, before agreeing that with these players having either retired or moved on, this forces the manager to adapt and work with the squad members he has.
“100%. There is no doubt about this. If you have Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Messi, it was the most appropriate way to play football. But when you have a different profile, I don’t know if it’s the way to play football. Now everyone is talking about starting from the back, but if you have defenders, as they say in Italy “with square feet”, the best way is to play as soon as possible in the opponent’s half, with a long ball.”
Asked who the best coach in the world is, Ancelotti answered “Josep Guardiola” in a nod to the architect of the mentioned Barca dynasty who now leads Manchester City.
As for who he’d choose to go out and have a drink with between the Catalan, Diego Simeone or Jose Mourinho, the Italian went for the controversial Portuguese.