History was made at Camp Nou on Monday, November 8 after Barcelona unveiled former player, Xavi Hernandez as its new club coach in the presence of thousands of fans. Xavi is the only coach to be unveiled on the pitch under the watchful eyes of fans.
The 41-year-old and his family members received a warm welcome with cheers of ‘Xavi! Xavi!! Xavi!!! by the Blaugrana today.
Xavi had departed Barcelona about six years ago to play for a club in Qatar after which he became a coach with Al Sadd. The former midfielder was welcomed back to Camp Nou today by Barca president Joan Laporta and other officials of the club.
Speaking after signing his contract on the pitch, Xaxi said: “I don’t want to get too emotional so I will just tell you one thing — we are the best club in the world,” Xavi told the crowd of around 10,000 fans.
“And we will work to the highest standards to have success. We cannot accept defeats or draws, we have to win every game.”
On his part, Laporta said: “Today will be a historic day for Barca.”
Xavi’s first training session in charge of Barcelona will be on Tuesday while he anticipates leading the club to victory in his first game match against local rivals Espanyol on November 20.
Meanwhile, power rankings have revealed the top five favourite players to win this year’s Ballon d’Oor.
Naija News recalls that the annual football award usually presented to individual players by the French news magazine France Football could not be done last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, due to the new development, this year’s award has been scheduled to hold on November 29.
