Xavi continues in Barcelona –

Xavi Hernández will remain as Barcelona coach for another year, agreeing to fulfill his contract until 2025, reversing his decision to resign at the end of the season.

Barcelona has not yet made the decision official. He is expected to do so today, when president Joan Laporta would explain the details of the change of mind.

Spanish media reported that Xavi met for hours yesterday with sports director Deco and Laporta to agree on the coach’s continuity instead of the planned departure.

The decision to insist on Xavi was made three days following a 3-2 defeat once morest Real Madrid practically buried the team’s aspirations to repeat as champions of the Spanish League. The possibility of a title this season has also virtually disappeared.

The setback left Madrid with an 11-point advantage over Barca, its immediate second team, with six games ahead.

A week earlier, the Blaugranas were left out of the Champions League following being eliminated by Paris Saint Germain in the quarterfinals.

Xavi announced he would be leaving at the end of this season, following a loss to Villarreal in La Liga in January. Barca had already been eliminated by Athletic Bilbao in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey and lost 4-1 to Madrid in the final of the Spanish Super Cup.

At that time, Xavi explained that the decision was because he wanted to relieve the stress that was suffocating both him and the team. He noted several times later that the announcement had the effect he was looking for, generating a positive reaction from the campus.

On repeated and recent occasions, Xavi had denied that he was going to reverse his decision to leave at the end of the campaign.

Barca clings to second place in the League, with just two points difference over Girona, which is third.

Yuste comes forward

Rafael Yuste, Barcelona’s sports vice president, assured that Xavi Hernández will continue to lead the Barça team because “he is simply very excited regarding the project.”

“This is simply it,” he told reporters following a meeting between the sports commission and the coach himself at Joan Laporta’s private home that lasted more than four hours.

“Tomorrow the president will give more details. There is unanimity in the board,” said Yuste, who assured that Barcelona had “never” looked for another coach to direct the sports project: “Xavi was always the option.”

“We have not talked regarding signings. It is something that will not depend on Xavi, but on the economic part of the club, on achieving the necessary fair play to try to achieve the maximum (1-1) and that is what we are working on,” the sports vice president insisted.

Yuste commented that they had not discussed “conditions” with Xavi for him to continue leading the team. “We have talked regarding the project, regarding what Barca needs to continue giving excitement to its members,” he stated.

The sports vice president, who described the coach at the New Camp Nou.”