Sergio Busquets has revealed Xavi struggled to make an immediate impact as Barcelona head coach – confusing players with his plans.
The return of club legend Xavi to Camp Nou was announced by Barcelona on November 5, after a rocky start to the season under Ronald Koeman's leadership.
Barcelona lost four of their last six matches during Koeman's tenure, before caretaker Sergi Barjuan temporarily stabilised matters ahead of Xavi's arrival from Al Sadd, the Qatari club where he launched his coaching career.
Despite his celebrated playing days, which saw him make 767 appearances for Barcelona – only Lionel Messi has managed more – Xavi was untested at LaLiga level as a coach and did not initially convince everyone in the current squad.
There were sticky results in his first two months, but since the turn of the year Barcelona are unbeaten in LaLiga, with a 4-0 thumping of Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu last time out emphasising their improvement.
It would take a major turnaround still for Xavi's side to leapfrog Madrid at the top of the table, given they trail by 12 points with just one game in hand, but Barcelona's belief is soaring.
Busquets said: "He's worked hard, especially early on. It wasn't easy because a lot of players didn't understand his ideas and he's had to work hard to get things to improve.
"He has changed a lot and brought in his own staff. I think he learned a lot under Pep [Guardiola]. We veterans try to help him, but not just with the idea and not just with Xavi, we always have done to make sure the young players come through and adapt properly."
If they beat Sevilla on Sunday, Barcelona will go second in the Spanish top flight, a prospect that seemed unlikely when the team sat ninth as Koeman departed.
Xavi starred in the great Pep Guardiola teams at Barcelona and will have taken many of his teachings from the influential coach, who is now at Manchester City.
To win LaLiga in his first season will probably be beyond Xavi, given the substantial lead Madrid have, but next term promises to see the great rivals in a serious title battle.
"We still have our hopes in the league, but all we can do is win and hope," Busquets said in an interview with RAC 1. "We are on good form and have the right mentality to at least make sure we have a chance."
At the age of 33, Busquets has a year left on his Barcelona contract and could then follow Xavi into coaching, another great Barcelona stalwart taking on a tracksuit role.
First stop for Busquets after Barcelona is likely to be outside Europe, if he elects to play on. Like Xavi, who saw out his playing days in Qatar, Busquets cannot stomach the thought of competing against Barcelona.
"I'd find it very hard to go elsewhere in Europe and play for a team that's chasing the same things as Barca," he said. "I can only really see myself going to play in a different continent."
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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