BARCELONA
Barcelona manager Xavi opens up on Jordi Alba’s exit to MLS side Inter Miami
The Catalan coach took the responsibility for Alba’s exit saying “if you ever felt disappointed it’s because I didn’t know how to manager it better”.
Barcelona boss Xavi Hernández spoke about the exit of Jordi Alba, who left Spain for the US to join Inter Miami along with Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets.
One of the most revealing moments of the second season of the ‘A New Era’ documentary, which chronicles the Barcelona football season under Xavi, was a scene inside the dressing room in which Jordi Alba’s goodbye was recorded.
The defender made the decision to tell his teammates that he was leaving the club: “thank you so much to everyone and if I’ve ever lost control then I’m sorry, you know what I’m like. But in the end I try to help everyone and I think that’s what I take with me”, he said.
‘It has never been anything personal’, says Xavi
Xavi took the opportunity to send a message to Alba: “As a teammate, as a coach, as a Barcelona fan, for me you have been the best left-back that’s ever come through here. I wish you all the best, you know this is your home. I told you what we all wanted, me being the first of everyone, for you to leave as a great, I think you deserve it.”
And if you have ever felt disappointed”, he continued, “especially with myself, I don’t feel good about that, because you know it has never been anything personal. You know I respect and care for you a lot. I love you a lot and I know you have a big heart, but a lot of the time as coach, you’ll see. You said you didn’t want to be a coach, but I think you can be a good one.”
Inter Miami:
Alba: ‘I don’t want to leave here and I’m not going with any bad feelings’
“You have to take decisions and a lot of the time they’re difficult, above all when they involve friends. It’s the worst decision, coaching friends. If in any moment you’ve felt disappointed it was because I didn’t know how to manage it better”, he concluded.
Alba thanked the coach’s honesty: “You told me the other day and I understand perfectly. I explained my reasons. I know you’ve never done anything with bad intentions. I don’t want to leave here and I’m not going with any bad feelings. Not with any of you [teammates] nor with the manager. I have, with time, managed things better, I have understood everything better and I leave happy and without any hard feelings. The truth is that I’m very happy.”