Spanish national team manager Luis de la Fuente has this afternoon moved to provide his backing to under-fire Barcelona counterpart Xavi Hernández.
The name of tactician Xavi has of course returned to the forefront of the headlines in Catalunya’s capital over the course of the last 48 hours.
This comes amid a fresh round of criticism being aimed squarely in the direction of the former midfielder.
After Barcelona were held to a concerning 3-3 draw by La Liga relegation-battlers Granada, Xavi’s credentials as a tactician were widely called into question once more.
In fact, many of a Blaugrana persuasion went as far as to call for their boss’ impending summer departure to be moved forward, to this week.
As alluded to above, though, amid such backlash, Xavi has today received the backing of another high-profile head coach in Spain.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, La Roja boss Luis de la Fuente was asked for his take on the ongoing chatter surrounding the name of Barca’s headmaster.
And De la Fuente made use of the opportunity to jump to Xavi’s defence, adamant that he has showcased both great ‘professionalism’ and ‘performance’ across his time on the bench in Catalunya:
“I understand about Xavi on the Barça bench,” De la Fuente began, as cited by AS. “He won the league and the Super Cup in his first full year. He was extraordinary but you can only win one, in football you lose a lot more than you win.
“This year there are Real Madrid and Girona, who have been better. And Barcelona have had a lot of problems with injuries and setbacks. Xavi has always been up to the task, he has shown great professionalism and a great performance last year.”
Conor Laird | GSFN
