BarcelonaXavi Hernández always has a conciliatory tone. Wrapped in an irreducible optimism, the coach from Egar left a comfortable life in Doha, where he was the coach of Al-Saad and did and undid as he pleased, to come to train a Barça in an emergency situation. Josep Maria Bartomeu called him twice, right after sacking Ernesto Valverde in January 2020 and that same summer, after the invention with Quique Setién was disastrous. It would not be until the third, however, that Xavi would accept the challenge of sitting on the Blaugrana bench, when president Joan Laporta called him directly after sacking Ronald Koeman in November of last year and with the team installed in a deep crisis of results.
With this transition of coaches – after some first images that collect the legends who have worn the club’s shirt – the documentary series begins FC Barcelona, a new era, which will be available on the Amazon Prime platform from this Wednesday. There are five 30-minute episodes that go from Setién’s speech – who was never respected by the dressing room and it only takes a few minutes of the first episode to realize it – to the dismissal of Koeman and the arrival of Xavi, where the core of this first season is focused.
Despite the fact that the club controls what comes to light, the project allows us to see interiors like the first speech of the player in the dressing room just arrived: “I spoke to Busi and he told me that there is no coexistence code. No I’ll be a cop, but there’s going to be some rules.” Words he uttered after President Laporta, who addresses the group in Catalan [Xavi ho fa en castellà, llengua que domina el gruix del vestidor]conveyed to the players a message he had already used during his election campaign: “Losing will have consequences.”
Earlier, the series also confirmed the rift between the sacred cows of the dressing room and the previous president, Bartomeu, when he instructed Koeman to inform Luis Suárez that he would not continue with Blaugrana. “He deserved a better farewell,” says Jordi Alba, straight and short. The same footballer drops the discomfort of him, and also that of “Messi and Gery [en referència a Piqué]”, when Setién tried to change the training schedules just after arriving.
Even if it doesn’t do it in an obvious way, the series also shows revealing details, in this case, due to their absence and which are better understood if you have followed the news of the club by getting information from the press. There is a very clear example: the voices chosen to evaluate Messi’s tearful farewell are those of Busquets and Alba, and, on the other hand, not that of Piqué, who does evaluate other issues throughout the series.
The one from Badia and the one from l’Hospitalet maintain a great relationship with the Argentine, unlike the Blaugrana centre-back, who has already retired. The moment when Mateu Alemany talks to Ansu Fati and asks him if he wants to stay at Barça is also significant: the young fiancée tells him that if it depends on him, yes. It is not explained in the series, but the director of football stopped a €100m bid from the Premier League to sign him in the summer of 2021.
Xavi’s motivational speech
However, Xavi’s first stage in office is fundamentally addressed. The coach, who receives praise from players such as Busquets, Pedri and Ter Stegen, tries to win over his pupils with a motivational speech and also with jokes and, above all, challenges – for example, score two goals before the 30th minute – which mean prizes, whether it’s an extra day of partying for Christmas or inviting the group to a dinner paid for by the coach wherever the players want.
The critical situation of the team during his first months as coach means, however, that he ends up subordinating the awards to something as fundamental as winning. The team needed to add in order not to lose the fight to qualify for next year’s Champions League. It is precisely in this competition, after the defeat against Bayern Munich (3-0) last season and the elimination of Barça in which, without the series showing it directly, Xavi explains that he “worked hard” because ” the team didn’t compete” and that it was “one of the days I was angriest”. One of the other more sincere moments of the coach is when he, Dembélé’s main defender, also came to think that he had deals made with another team when the last winter market refused to renew and he was, temporarily, removed.
One of the happiest moments of Egarenc’s first months as Barcelona coach was the 0-4 win at the Santiago Bernabéu. In practice, that victory only served as a morale boost, but Xavi’s speech beforehand shows his unnegotiable optimism: “You are a better team than Real Madrid,” he told them before jumping onto the pitch. This year, on the other hand, the whites prevailed by a resounding 3-1. Barça, however, is the leader in the League. We will see how this story ends and if the new season of the series will have a happy ending. “This year, you can’t escape the League. You have to die for Barça,” says Xavi in the last episode.