Xavi’s new Barcelona deal ‘shows the faith in the project’

Xavi believes his Barcelona contract extension reflects the faith the club has in his project as he prepares for Tuesday night’s LaLiga clash with Mallorca.

The Barca boss penned a contract extension until 2025 last week before overseeing a dramatic 3-2 win over Celta Vigo that made it five wins and one draw from their six league games this season.

Xavi believes his side did not play well on Saturday, when they scored three times in the last nine minutes to overturn a two-goal deficit, but credited his players for keeping themselves top of the table.

❝In the upcoming matches there will be an average of two to three rotations per game. The goal is to have the players one hundred percent fit and to also prevent injuries❞

– Xavi – pic.twitter.com/X8O6xdCJlS

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 25, 2023

“We didn’t play well against Celta,” Xavi said.

“But we won and put ourselves top of the table and I got to extend my contract, which shows that the club has its faith in our project.”

Barca next travel to lowly Mallorca, who have won one of their opening six matches and lost 5-3 at Girona on Saturday, but Xavi expects a tough test.

“Mallorca is a difficult opponent,” he added.

“They have a lot to offer in defence and work very well for each other. They are physically very strong and have direct approach players like (Vedat) Muriqi and (Sergi) Darder and this won’t be an easy away trip against a team that wants to bounce back after such a big loss as the one to Girona.”

The Catalan giants have started their LaLiga title defence in style, having scored 16 times (joint most with Girona in the league), but Xavi admitted he still wants to improve in attacking areas.

He said: “We are competing well, and in general we’re playing good football. But I’d still like to see more mobility from my forwards and we need to attack spaces better.

“We can get so much more out of this attack, they need to work more on their positioning. But even though we had a bad game against Celta, we are on the right track.

“One of the best things about this squad is its versatility. We have different kinds of player for different positions. Players like Sergi Roberto, Gavi, Joao Cancelo, (Ilkay) Gundogan, Joao Felix, (Jules) Kounde and (Ronald) Araujo who can adapt so well.”