Barcelona vice president Rafael Yuste gives Xavi his full backing

The dreaded vote of confidence has arrived. How many times have we seen it in soccer? A struggling manager seemingly gets the support of the powers-that-be at their club and within a matter of weeks, sometimes even days, he’s shown the door.

Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernández will certainly hope that’s not the case as he approaches the anniversary (on 6 November) of a year in charge at Camp Nou.

Xavi’s difficult return to Barcelona

The former Barça captain certainly hasn’t had an easy time of it since leaving Qatari outfit Al Saad, faced with the challenge of leading his former club back to glory amidst widely-reported financial difficulties. Off-field troubles which won’t be helped in the slightest by the club’s failure to qualify for the knockout stages of this season’s Champions League, which they had budgeted for.

Statistics doing the rounds recently after Xavi’s 50th match in charge of the club did little to paint his tenure so far in a positive light, with his win rate (56%) down even on previous manager Ronald Koeman (66%) at the same point, whose time in charge was largely derided by fans of the club. Xavi hasn’t been able to call upon Lionel Messi, though, it should be remembered...

However, following a 1-0 victory away to Valencia at the weekend, the Catalans are now just a point behind Real Madrid at the top of the LaLiga table, a fact which is easy to forget given that the club appears to be in a never-ending cycle of crisis.

Barcelona vice president Yuste: We’re 100% behind Xavi

One man whose attention that has not escaped, however, is Barcelona vice president Rafael Yuste, who spoke to the media outside the Vienna House Easy hotel in Plzeñ in the Czech Republic, Barça’s base ahead of their Champions League dead rubber against Viktoria Plzeñ tonight (Tuesday 1 November).

“We have complete confidence in Xavi. We’re 100% behind him, my fellow board members share that my view. Xavi is a home-grown coach who knows what he needs to do, who’s fighting with a team which is still a work in progress. We have all our hopes pinned on Xavi. He’s the coach that we want and he has a squad that will grow little by little. I am convinced that he will lead us to the trophies that the fans want and deserve.”

A genuine vote of confidence or no more than lip service?