Barcelona is looking for an assistant coach after parting ways with “legendary” coach Xavi Hernandez.
On June 26 (KST), Spain’s As reported, “Barcelona is currently looking for an assistant coach to help coach Hanji Flick. One of them is Thiago Alcantarada.”
This season, Barcelona has had a failed season. Barcelona won the Spanish Primera Liga last season, but this season, they’ve been irrelevant. In La Liga, Barcelona finished second with 25 wins, seven draws, five losses, and 82 points, handing the trophy to Real Madrid. They also failed to win cup competitions and the UEFA Champions League.
In January, Xavi decided to resign after Barcelona’s poor performance. At the urging of Barcelona president Juan Laporta, Xavi reversed his decision and opted to stay on. However, the good relationship between Xavi and Laporta didn’t last long. In a recent interview, Xavi criticized Barcelona’s financial problems, and Laporta was very disappointed with him.
The Barcelona hierarchy decided to fire Xavi again. “Xavi will no longer be our coach at the end of the season,” the club announced on its official website on Thursday. President Juan Laporta has informed Xavi that he will not continue as first-team coach for the 2024-2025 season,” the club announced on its official website.
Barcelona is preparing to hire a new coach. The man in question is Flick. In July 2019, Flick took over as Bayern Munich’s head coach, and four months later, he became acting coach when Niko Kovac resigned due to poor results. Munich’s success under Flick prompted the club to offer him a contract extension as their full-time coach.
The move paid off. Munich won the treble under Flick that season. In 2020-21, they started the season by winning the UEFA Super Cup, then defeated rivals Borussia 바카라 Dortmund in the DFL-Supercup to lift five trophies in 40 games. Flick was named UEFA Coach of the Year and also won the FIFA Club World Cup, taking his tally to six titles.
Although he didn’t have a successful career with the German national team after leaving Munich, he’s certainly a good hire for Barcelona. When Xavi decided to step down, Flick worked hard to secure the Barcelona job. He started learning Spanish and counter-offered himself to Barcelona. Flick took the opportunity to reclaim the Barcelona job that had slipped away from him with Xavi’s departure.
Barcelona have selected Alcantara as their coach to assist current coach Flick. Alcantara is a former Barcelona youth central midfielder. He was coached by Pep Guardiola at Barcelona before moving to Munich, where he was a protégé of Flick. He currently plays for Liverpool, but his future is uncertain due to long-term injuries.