Barcelona and Xavi shift their attention back to the Champions League on Wednesday, when they face Napoli in the first leg of their round of 16 clash in Naples.
The Blaugrana’s best chance of winning silverware ended in agony when they were dumped out of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals by Athletic Bilbao last month. And to make matters worse, they followed it up with a 5-3 loss at home to Villlarreal in La Liga.
In the wake of these damaging defeats, head coach Xavi confirmed his decision to leave the club at the end of the season. And ex-Liverpool and Manchester City star Mark Seagraves has now offered his opinion on the managerial situation.
Seagraves is of the opinion that Barcelona must appoint a ‘big name’ if they are to attract the best players and regain their place in the upper echelons of European football.
In an interaction with Sportskeeda, he stated:
“I’m always a fan of continuity or trying to bring things through the system, whether that be coaches or players. Barcelona are a big club and with what they’ve gone through in the last few years, they need a big name [as manager] to bring in top quality players.
“I’m not sure of the financial situation there now and whether they can actually go and get someone like an Mbappe.”
Seagraves went on to suggest that Xavi did his best during his spell as head coach and touched upon the pressure associated with the role at the club. He also namepicked Jose Mourinho and Thomas Tuchel as potential replacements for Xavi.
“It’s a process and every club goes through it [at some point]. Xavi has done as much as he can and it’s interesting to listen to him when he’s talking about the pressure not only the press put on them, but the club itself put on their managers.
“Maybe Barcelona need to look at that and address that [situation]. There are a few managers out of work now, obviously Mourinho, and maybe Bayern Munich’s manager [Thomas Tuchel] could be available, if he fails to get the desired results.
“There are a lot of managers who could go there but the pressure, of whatever team you’re at, to deliver is phenomenal and none more so than Barcelona.”
Seagraves predicts result as Barcelona prepare for Napoli challenge
Despite their success in the past, Barcelona are no longer favorites to win the Champions League. But despite the lack of expectations on them to do well in the ongoing campaign, Mark Seagraves believes the La Liga giants will progress to the quarter-finals by beating Napoli over two legs.
The Serie A champions have not been at their best this season and Seagraves insists Xavi’s men can see off the challenge despite their recent setbacks.
He predicted:
“Barca did not have a good result at the weekend, Napoli did. But Napoli have not been great this season so it’s going to be a tough one [to predict], more like a coin toss. Over the two legs, I’d go with Barcelona.”
Xavi and co. are currently 10 points adrift of Real Madrid in the league table. The last time they reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League was in the 2019/20 season.
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