Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has praised the work ethic in pre-season of Xavi Hernandez and said that the midfielder ‘is back to his best’.
The Spanish international had long been linked with a summer exit from the Catalan side this summer with links to New York City FC having been made in recent weeks, but his decision to stay has proven to be a good one after new boss Luis Enrique heaped praise on his efforts and improvement in pre-season training.
The midfielder came on as a second half substitute against Nice in a pre-season friendly and changed the dynamics of the game, creating chance after chance before eventually scoring the games equaliser from the penalty spot.
“Right now he’s back to his best both in terms of fitness and motivation,” the coach told reporters after the game.
Discussing the result against the French side, Enrique said that the result does not matter and that he is grasping who is where and what needs to be improved before the season opener against Elche.
“The result is what matters least,” the 44-year-old said. “These games are for seeing where each player is and telling each of them what things they’ll need to improve.
“We’e going the logical, and correct, way about things. We can’t expect too much before the season has even started.”