On Saturday, Barcelona announced the return of great midfielder Xavi Hernandez as coach, with the legendary midfielder facing a monumental task in restoring the Spanish giants to their previous glory.
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After 767 appearances with the Catalan club, which included winning eight La Liga crowns and four Champions Leagues, the Spaniard moved to Al Sadd in 2015.
"It was meant to be. Welcome home." Barca tweeted. "It wasn't goodbye, it was see you soon,"it said, alongside a video montage of the player's 2015 departure.
"It is believed that Xavi Hernandez will arrive in Barcelona this weekend, and that his presentation as the next FC Barcelona first team coach will take place in a public event at Camp Nou on Monday, November 8," the statement added.
Xavi, known as the "Maquina" (the Machine), is widely regarded as one of the club's greatest ever players, and there is considerable interest in his potential as a coach following his impact on Pep Guardiola's legendary Barcelona team.
His passing style was compared to Pep Guardiola's treble-winning "tiki-taka" club in 2009.
"One of the greatest midfield maestros of all time," Barca said in a statement, "he helped redefine the art with his inventive intellect, precision passing, and incredible ability to read the game.He is an "an absolute legend".
Al Sadd, a Qatari team that Xavi had managed since 2019, announced on social media that they had reached an agreement with Barca and shared photographs of the Spaniard bidding goodbye to the players and staff.