Xavi Hernández announces he will leave Barcelona at end of season after 5-3 loss

• Xavi reveals decision after controversial defeat by Villarreal
• ‘This will ease the tension – I don’t want to be a hindrance’

Xavi Hernández has announced that he will step down as coach of Barcelona at the end of the season and said he felt “liberation” at walking away from a job that he described as “cruel and unpleasant”.

He will not continue beyond 30 June this year, even though his contract runs until the following summer. The former captain, midfield legend and footballing ideologue insisted the club needed a “change of direction” and that he could “not allow the situation to continue”, as a crisis of results and performance continues. He called the decision “common sense” and said that, “as a Barcelona fan”, he felt that in leaving he was doing “the right thing”.

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