Iniesta and Xavi are known to be close teammates and legends in the Barcelona shirt. Over the years when Iniesta played in Japan, Xavi tried his hand at coaching at Al Sadd and most recently Barcelona.
At Camp Nou, Xavi achieved some success such as bringing home the La Liga title in the 2022-2023 season. However, he was fired by Barcelona last season, after the team went downhill and the Spanish coach himself had conflicts with the board.
Iniesta recently spoke out in support of Xavi, in response to suggestions that Hansi Flick's predecessor had not made a significant contribution. Iniesta told Onda Cero: "Xavi came to Barcelona because he felt he was ready. But for some people, what he did was in vain.
On the contrary, I think Xavi has done many positive things. But we like to compare and only like to look at the negative things.”
It can be said that Xavi's 3 seasons have helped Barcelona somewhat overcome the previous crisis. Remember, the La Liga championship that the 44-year-old strategist brought home was the first trophy, after 3 consecutive years of empty hands of the home team in the National Championship.
In addition, Xavi also helped Barcelona discover many young talents. Pedri, Gavi, Balde and especially Yamal have always been trusted, although at first not many people knew who they were. Now, Barcelona is quite thriving under Hansi Flick and the framework that Xavi created has also helped the German coach a lot.
