Barcelona did not have a successful season last year, and the signs that it would end badly were there early on. Xavi Hernandez saw as much, announcing his resignation in January, only for President Joan Laporta to back him publicly. Three weeks later, Xavi would be out the job.
During that period, Sporting Director Deco, who was not partisan to Xavi continuing, had begun to design a plan to improve results at the club if his former midfield partner was to be there. The much-lauded new fitness regime at Barcelona was his idea, and he had already considered bringing in Julio Tous, who now leads the club’s strength and conditioning department, who he knows from his time as a player under Frank Rijkaard.
After that, he got in touch with renowned physio Raul Martinez in February too, who has also joined the club this summer. Their plans to improve the condition of the footballers was based on the fact that they knew they would have a short squad this summer, and were not getting the best out of many of their top players. It has gone better than they could have hoped so far.
Flick: "I don't know how many points we need in this new Champions League format. We have to focus on winning. The goal is to be among the top 8 classified."
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) November 5, 2024
The feeling is, Relevo explain, that if they can get to the end of January at this rhythm, then Barcelona will be in pole position for the title. Deco’s plan was designed to improve matters under Xavi, but Hansi Flick has proven the beneficiary. In addition, it is noted that the connection and harmony between Deco and Flick is strong, whereas with Xavi, he did not see eye-to-eye.
The differences of opinion between Deco and Xavi were a foreseeable issue from when President Joan Laporta brought in the Brazilian-Portuguese. As players, their relationship was tense, and Xavi told manager Pep Guardiola in his first weeks in the job that removing Deco from the dressing room should be one of his first points of order when asked, something Guardiola saw in 2008. Despite numerous reports to the contrary, it seems their relationship never improved.
