Ex-Barca player hits out at Xavi Hernandez

In the summer of 2022, Riqui Puig decided to pack his bags for a challenge in the MLS. The midfielder left behind Barcelona, the team he came up through, as he started a new chapter with LA Galaxy, his current team.

The Catalan player, leaving a training session with his team, spoke to several Spanish outlets covering his former club's pre-season. He did not mince his words, and hit out at his former coach, Xavi Hernandez.

"My relationship with him ended before the end of the season. We sat down and he was the one who told me that he didn't count on me. Maybe the president thought differently because he said that I was a player of the future and that he wanted me to stay, but I wasn't going to stay at a club where the coach didn't want me", Riqui Puig began.

"It's true that I wasn't treated well. If I'm a player with a contract, I have to practice and you can't forbid me from training. That's what bothered me the most. So, I quickly made a decision, I changed and found a way out", he added.

Finally, the midfielder did not hide the fact that he was surprised by the coach's attitude. "He called me twice and my parents to go to Qatar, to do things with another club. There was a good relationship with my parents," he noted.

"They are from Terrassa and several of their friends are close to us. What hurts me most as a player and as a friend I thought we were with Xavi's family. I couldn't succeed with him. This sometimes happens, but not being able to train the first week of pre-season upset me a lot", he concluded.

 

July 24, 2023