"Has had to overcome difficult situations" - Barcelona president Joan Laporta reaffirms his confidence in Xavi

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has expressed his support for Xavi after he guided the Blaugrana to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.

The La Liga giants beat FC Porto 2-1 on Tuesday (November 28), confirming their place in the last 16. It's the first time Barca have made it out of the group stages since the 2020-21 season.

Xavi had come under increasing pressure following a 1-1 draw against Rayo Vallecano leaving Barcelona sitting fourth in La Liga. They'd suffered a shock 2-1 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League before the recent international break.

Laporta was thrilled to see Barca advance to the last 16 of Europe's elite club competition. He showed support for Xavi by alluding to the injury crisis he's dealt with (via transfer expert Fabrizio Romano):

"I’m so happy for Xavi, he deserves it. He really has had to overcome difficult situations, with injured players."

Barca came from behind to beat Porto, courtesy of goals from Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix. Laporta touched on the Catalan giants' performance, praising the two Joao's, Pedri and returning Frenkie de Jong:

"There was a lot of joy to see the goals of the Joãos, Pedri running 13km acting as Gavi. Also, with Frenkie we’re unbeatable."

Xavi was appointed Barcelona manager in November 2021. He oversaw a La Liga-title winning 2022-23 season, ending a four-year title drought.

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Barcelona director Deco insists the club have faith in Xavi

Deco backs Xavi amid a difficult period.

Deco also spoke about Xavi's situation at Barcelona amid recent criticism over his side's performances. The Blaugrana director highlighted that the club handed the Spanish coach a new two-year contract in September (via GOAL):

"We don’t have to ratify anything, Xavi is our coach, he has a contract and he recently renewed it. And when a club renews its coach it is because it trusts him, there is no discussion. I understand that when we don’t play well and don’t win there is criticism, but that’s normal. This is football and we are used to it."

Xavi has dealt with several injuries to his side this season, including Gavi. The Spanish playmaker will miss the rest of the campaign due to an ACL injury he picked up while on international duty.

Deco touched on this by insisting Barcelona are a team:

"It’s normal, we know that rumours are normal at Barça when they don’t play well. But we know what we want on a day-to-day basis, we know that we had to bring players back when we thought we had everyone, Gavi got injured. But this is football and the important thing is the day-to-day, how hard we work, how much we suffer in defeat and this is a team."

Barca are next in action on Sunday (December 3) when they face La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid. They are level on points with Diego Simeone's third-placed Atleti who boast a game in hand.