For Barça, their failure to qualify for the Champions League's round of 16 once again constitutes a failure of truly gargantuan proportions. This past off-season, the Blaugrana spent an enormous amount of money in their effort to revamp their squad. Players including Raphinha, Franck Kessié, Jules Koundé, and most notably of all, Bayern legend Robert Lewandowski arrived at Camp Nou in hopes that their play would propel Barça towards a sixth Champions League title in the club's storied history.
Instead, the exact opposite outcome took place. With just four points from five matches played, Barça were not even close to Group C runners-up Inter Milan, let alone the imperious juggernaut that is Bayern. Even if Barça were to finish the season with a La Liga and Copa del Rey double, it is more than likely that the club would regard the season as a failure because, like all of the other leading clubs in Europe, it's the Champions League which they desire most of all.
Barça's early Champions League exit will almost certainly lead to a premature end to Xavi's stint as the club's head coach. Following a legendary playing career which saw him spend 17 years at Barça, Xavi took over in the dugout in November 2021, replacing Ronald Koeman. At first, things went well - Xavi steered them to a second-place league finish; they were in ninth place on his first day in the position. However, it must be kept in mind that Barça, as stated in their club slogan, regard themselves as "more than a club". Even such a result would not necessarily been deemed to have been good enough.
Perhaps Xavi was never really ready for such a prestigious coaching job. Prior to his acceptance of the Barça job, Xavi's only prior coaching experience had been a stint of two-and-a-half years at Qatari club Al-Sadd. Obviously, the standard of play to which he would have been exposed was not even close to that which he would go on to face at Barça. Though he did find some degree of success early on, in hindsight the word "success" was relative. Despite registering a memorable 4-0 El Clásico victory over Real Madrid, Xavi's first season in charge did end up without a title. Additionally, they were knocked out of the Europa League in the quarterfinals and the Copa del Rey in the round of 16 - both results well below expectations.
One particularly damning statistic is this: of everyone to have coached Barça since Pep Guardiola's departure in 2012, Xavi has the lowest average points accrued per game with just 1.9. Even Koeman, the man he replaced, sported an average of 1.96 prior to his dismissal. In retrospect, the success of mid-season acquisitions of Ferran Torres and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang last season ended up buying Xavi some additional time which he might not have necessarily earned via his own abilities.
While not every coach finds immediate success, especially at a club as iconic and storied as Barcelona, Xavi has already been granted enough time and chances for a general consensus to have formed around him. Do not be surprised if the man once so beloved by the club's fanbase loses his job within the next week or two.
Many legendary players who have made the transition to coaching have found much difficulty on the other side of the touchlines. Diego Maradona, Andrea Pirlo, Alan Shearer, and Marco van Basten are some of the most well-known examples of this. Unless something changes for the better and soon, it is almost certain that Xavi will end up being the next big name on this list.
They say that "it's never over until it's over", but it probably will be soon.
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