- Title: SOCCER-XAVI 'Irreplaceable' Xavi calls time on Barcelona career
- Date: 21st May 2015
- Summary: BARCELONA, SPAIN (MAY 21, 2015) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** BARCA MIDFIELDER, XAVI HERNANDEZ, ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE AND SITTING DOWN XAVI POSING CLOSE UP OF XAVI POSING XAVI AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BARCA MIDFIELDER, XAVI HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "I would like to announce and confirm that I am leaving Barca at the end of the season. It is a definitive and hard decision. It was not an easy decision to make. I have agreed on it with my wife, my family, my people and I think it is time to leave. This is the way I feel." JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BARCA MIDFIELDER, XAVI HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "I want to keep playing football. When I think about my future, I think it (Qatar) is the best place to prepare for a future coach of sports director position. I still don't know what I would like to do in a future. What I do know is that I want to come back to Barca, I want to work at home, that is my goal: to prepare to make a proper comeback." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BARCA MIDFIELDER, XAVI HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "I am very happy. I couldn't possibly have had a better career. If I started from scratch now I am not sure it would turn out the same way. I am very happy with how things have developed, how I have performed, how I have made the most out of my skills. I am very happy. My happiness is complete right now. Now we only need to win these two trophies we are still playing for." CAMERAMAN AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BARCA MIDFIELDER, XAVI HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "The script couldn't be better. We just won La Liga, which is the most special and fairest title in the course of a season. And also the one that shows things for real as it tells how much work there has been over the season. So we are going to lift that trophy on Saturday and I am very excited about lifting it for the last time before our followers. So this is a special end of the season, at Barca. It is an amazing way to end. The script to it couldn't be better." PHOTOGRAPHER XAVI AT NEWS CONFERENCE XAVI LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE BARCELONA, SPAIN (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF XAVI TRAINING
- Embargoed: 5th June 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Spain
- Country: Spain
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAA7SDMVBEMHFR5YRPJSTAP2E55
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Barcelona midfielder and captain Xavi confirmed on Thursday (May 21) he will leave his boyhood club at the end of the season and has agreed to join Qatari side Al Sadd after a glittering career stretching over 17 seasons.
The 35-year-old former Spain international, who signed up with Barca's academy in 1991 aged 11 and has won 23 trophies with the first team, formally announced his departure at a press conference after the news had leaked out earlier this week.
Al Sadd simultaneously confirmed on their Twitter feed that an agreement had been sealed on a two-year contract with an option for a further year.
"I would like to announce and confirm that I am leaving Barca at the end of the season. It is a definitive and hard decision. It was not an easy decision to make. I have agreed on it with my wife, my family, my people and I think it is time to leave. This is the way I feel," an emotional Xavi, Barcelona's club captain and appearance record holder after 764 matches, told reporters.
"I want to keep playing football. When I think about my future, I think it (Qatar) is the best place to prepare for a future coach of sports director position. I still don't know what I would like to do in a future. What I do know is that I want to come back to Barca, I want to work at home, that is my goal: to prepare to make a proper comeback," he added.
Xavi came to define Barca's possession-based playing style and has had a crucial role in the success of the Catalan club and the Spain national team over the past decade.
The 35 year old player almost left at the end of last season after Barcelona failed to win a major trophy for the first time in six years but new coach Luis Enrique, a former team mate, persuaded him to stay.
"I am very happy. I couldn't possibly have had a better career. If I started from scratch now I am not sure it would turn out the same way. I am very happy with how things have developed, how I have performed, how I have made the most out of my skills . I am very happy. My happiness is complete right now. Now we only need to win these two trophies we are still playing for," he said, admitting that Barca had offered to extend his current contract by two years to 2018.
He is set to receive an emotional send-off in Barcelona's final La Liga game of the campaign at home to Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday (May 23), when he will hoist aloft the La Liga trophy after the match.
Last weekend Barca wrapped up the title, Xavi's eighth, and he can win two more trophies in the King's Cup final against Athletic Bilbao on May 30 and the Champions League showpiece versus Juventus a week later.
"The script couldn't be better. We just won La Liga, which is the most special and fairest title in the course of a season. And also the one that shows things for real as it tells how much work there has been over the season. So we are going to lift that trophy on Saturday and I am very excited about lifting it for the last time before our followers. So this is a special end of the season, at Barca. It is an amazing way to end. the script to it couldn't be better," he said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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