Ex-Barcelona forward Thierry Henry has weighed in on the increasing pressure Xavi Hernandez finds himself under at the Blaugrana following the team's early elimination from this season's UEFA Champions League.
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Despite spending big money on players such as Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde and Raphinha ahead of the campaign, as well as the arrivals of then-free agents Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen, the Catalan giants have failed to make it out of the group stage of Europe's biggest club competition.
Reports in Spain suggest that Barcelona had budgeted to at least reach the quarter-finals of the tournament, with questions now being asked about Xavi's job security.
While president Joan Laporta has insisted the Spaniard and the players are not to blame for the club's latest European struggles, former Barca attacker Henry believes what happened would be an even bigger concern if it was anyone else but Xavi in the hot seat.
"Look, at the end of the day, result matters, we've seen it with Steven Gerrard. The problem at Barcelona is that you don't have time," he said on a CBS broadcast, according to the Daily Mirror.
"But yeah, let me tell you, if it was another coach right now at Barcelona, dealing with what's happening, it would have been a volcano even more than what it is... the volcano would have erupted.
"But because it's Xavi, it's kind of okay.
"They are second in the league. We all know [Robert] Lewandowski should have scored at Bayern but it's not his [Xavi's] fault that Lewandowski missed three chances and it's not his fault if they didn't call the penalty on [Denzel] Dumfries, but you're the coach at Barcelona and you're going to be judged.
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"Barca have gambled on the Champions League and they need that money because of what they did in the summer."
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