Xavi: “Mou always gave us an extra motivation at Barça”

Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernández said today that, in spite of José Mourinho’s departure, Real Madrid would continue to win trophies and also admitted that the Portuguese coach had added an extra element of motivation for the Barcelona squad. “We’ll see what happens to Mourinho in the future, but I’m certain that Madrid will continue to win titles, with Mourinho or without Mourinho”, said the Catalan player during the presentation of the Paralympic Football 7-a-side Intercontinental Cup, of which the player is a sponsor.

Barcelona’s second captain said that his club’s objective should be to “forget what Real Madrid are doing” and to continue competing in order to win trophies. “With Mourinho at Madrid we still won titles. In the three years he’s been here, he’s taken the odd trophy off us, but we’ve carried on winning. That has to continue to be our goal”, stressed the player. At the same time Xavi said that he did believe the character of the Portuguese had been a motivation for the Barcelona squad: “He’s a controversial coach. He’s always provides extra motivation. I don’t know if we’ll miss him or not”. In spite of that he recognised that the ‘adiós’ of the ‘Special One’ was an important loss for the Spanish league because “he’s a top coach” in world football.