3 Years Before Xavi, Pep Guardiola Also Highlighted Barcelona’s Heavy Pressure, Preventing His Return From Manchester City

If someone could understand managerial intricacies in soccer, it would be none better than Pep Guardiola. The Spanish manager is known to approach the role radically by involving insightful tactics and understanding the players’ roles better. Interestingly, Pep Guardiola once spoke about how the policies of the club and expectations can influence a manager’s decision to stay. This played a role in his continued presence at Manchester City. Those words resonate to this day, reasoning Barcelona’s current coach, Xavi Hernandez’s exit. But what were those words of wisdom?

After reaching tremendous goals like a treble, Pep wants to continue at City. A better understanding from the management than his home club, FC Barcelona, motivates him to stay at Manchester City. And speaking three years ago to Rio Ferdinand about this, Pep said, “Yeah, especially in our country (In Spain) you are judged for the results and here (England) as well but they don’t tell you, ‘you win you are good, you lose you are bad.’ They’ll tell you okay, you don’t win what do you have to do to get him better,” citing lack of time and amplified expectations to win at FC Barcelona.

Meanwhile, his spell at Etihad has been nothing short of abundance. Arriving at Manchester with a reputation of winning six league titles and two UEFA Champions Leagues at the age of 45 was an advantage for Pep Guardiola. In addition, City, trying to make a mark in Europe, found the most appropriate manager in Pep. The only thing that is burdening him at Etihad is the excessive matches that can wear out his players. However, FC Barcelona seems to show very different dynamics.

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Pep Guardiola could still feel the heat of expectations on his shoulders. The 53-year-old left the Catalan club, citing exhaustion and loss of new ideas. After many years, the reason for Xavi’s exit is similar to Pep’s.

Xavi’s route of exit from Barcelona is similar to Pep Guardiola

Arriving at Barcelona in 2021 from Qatar club Al Sadd, Xavi’s career as a coach hasn’t been disastrous. Xavi helped the Catalan club win last year’s La Liga, but that will not suffice. As Guardiola stated earlier, winning constantly is the only way to sustain yourself at the club. Still in contention to win the UEFA Champions League and second only to Real Madrid in La Liga this year, Xavi feels that the load is unbearable by stating, “There’s a lot of pressure here, it feels like every day it’s a matter of life or death.” Being in constant touch with Pep, Xavi finally decided to move away after this season.

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Nevertheless, Guardiola remains the most demanded coach in soccer currently. With a surged demand, the former Bayern Munich coach can land anywhere he wants but chooses Manchester City. But will Xavi also pursue a more relaxed league and a club in the future? Let us know in the comments.