Exclusive Xavi Hernandez interview: "My time at Barça had come to an end"

You are starting a new life in Qatar. It's obvious that during your presentation you won't be able to use the line recycled by the majority of footballers 'from when I was little I dreamed of playing for Al Sadd'.

[Laughs] I will tell the truth. It is a homely place for us to be able to create a footballing future, it is a fantastic change of life, they [Al Sadd] have treated us wonderfully, the Aspire facilities are magnificent, it is a good sporting project, they want to win the league and the Asian Champions League again. I am excited about everything, to continue playing football, to play at a different level, but later to educate myself within the Aspire [academy] about becoming a manager and a sporting director.

Are you not a little repulsed by having to wear white?

[Laughs] Yeah, true. I've already worn the scarf when I arrived and I felt like a Juventus player.

Hey, and this is after we could have seen you in the blue shirt of PSG

I couldn't. I have already said that I could never play against Barcelona. I don't want to play in Europe. It would be a betrayal. I have already done everything in Europe, I can't win anything else. My career in Europe is finished.

Give me a run through of your decision to leave Barcelona and go to Qatar. Was there a specific day where you said that the decision was made?

Well, some months ago. In February, I started to seriously think that I had arrived at the right time to make a decision, I wasn't playing in the team as much and we still expected to win the title. This was how it was. This was how I felt. If not, I would have stayed.

Did Bartomeu pressure you to stay? 

A lot, in truth. He came to my house two or three times to offer me a contract extension, the last had been less than a month before, but I told him 'No, Bartu, I appreciate it a lot and I appreciate what you still think of me, but I'm already 35 and I want to enjoy football in another way.' To play for Barça is also stressful, you are watched at every moment and after 17 years of this, having to compete, having to win... it's all very stressful.

But you didn't have anything to do...

No. I had a proposal that was three in one: family, sport and life.

And then you walked out of the door...

Yes, I honestly believe that it could not have gone better. I was loved, the people were grateful. The parade was great, the people gave me their thanks and I was grateful to all of them. It has been amazing what we have gone through recently. I will remember it for all of my life.

And after all of these examples of affection, was there never a moment of doubt or regret about your decision?

No. The decision had already been made. It's how it is, I'm 35. The people would see me for only half an hour, for ten minutes. But one has to have some dignity in football. I assumed that this year I wouldn't play as much, but another year didn't make sense, the team was already picked. My time had already gone, it's fine, it doesn't hurt me to say it. It happens to all players, and some when they are 30 or 32. Well, I had played until 35. What I've experienced this year is incredible, it is one of the happiest of my career.

And who allowed you to lift the Champions League trophy on the third row, with Pique in front?

UEFA told me that the players would be in front and they could put me on a raised platform, but the platform was at a ridiculous height.

It looked like you were lifting the trophy on your own...

[Laughs] That's true, I saw the images and I thought I was on my own. But the truth was it was a magic moment. Imagine your last act of service to the team and it was lifting the Champions League. Ectasy.

Speaking of the Berlin final, what did you say to Pirlo when the game finished?

What could I do? He was destroyed, he was upset, I cheered him up and embraced him.

Is it true that Ozil was at the party in Berlin?

I didn't see him. I was with my family and friends. I went to sleep at three.

Now we are analysing the treble parade on the open-topped bus, what were Alves and Neymar doing to you? Do you remember?

They were trying to take my shoes and were pushing me when I got on the bus. I told them to stop being stupid and that the parade was for the people. It's alright to have three or four beers, but the parade is for the fans, to thank them and not to mess around.

And in the speeches at Camp Nou, more than one were slurring their words...

That has an explanation and Luis Enrique said it in his speech. There was a delay [of the microphone] of two seconds, it wasn't the effect of alcohol. On this parade, barely any alcohol was drank, compared to past ones. I sat at the back for the whole parade and enjoyed the fans, recording it all in my memory, because it was my last parade.

Was this the parade that the fans loved the most?

No. But it is the one which I have felt to be the biggest protagonist in. The announcer kept saying every minute 'Don't forget, this is Xavi's goodbye!'

And your memory of Pique's Kevin Roldan comments?

Bah! It was joke. Now Madrid are in defeat mode... it's the rivalry, maybe in a few years they will win the treble and make a joke about us.

It's true that the season has ended like a fairytale, but you told me six months ago that you weren't so sure how things would pan out.

In Egypt at the end of the year I told you that I had the feeling that we would win a title this year. I could see that we were training at our best, that we were taking care of all the details. I was convinced that we would at least win the league.

Yes, it's true that in Egypt you said that you would win one title, but some weeks later at Anoeta everything took a turn for the worse...

That happens two or three times a season here. Because it was Messi, right?

The question of the best player in your team falling out with the manager doesn't seem that normal to me.

It wasn't that important. Now imagine that I was fighting with you in the dressing room. Well, very well, not very important, right? It happens all the time in life and it will continue to happen.

That's something a fireman has to do, you don't have to deny it to me.

Yeah. I speak from my experience, as would Iniesta, Busquets...

Who compromised the most, Messi or Enrique?

Nobody compromised. They came to an agreement. We talked among ourselves and were thinking only about the team. Who wants to lose? No one. We were all working to the same target? Right? To win, even if you think that one of your teammates is foolish, which can happen, but the objective at the end is the same. Yes or no? Yours is to sell newspapers, mine is to win. Even if I don't necessarily get on with my teammate, I am with him.

Will there be similar situations next season?

Well, two or three times it will probably happen.

But you won't be there...

Well, others will. With the experience of last season,  it is no problem, it happens all the time. There was a discussion and that was it..

A discussion that ended up with a sporting director leaving...

That has nothing to do with that. It is a separate subject, between Bartomeu and Zubizarreta. Zubi didn't leave because of the defeat at Anoeta. If I tell you the truth, I watched that game again, we had seven chances and could have won at least 3-1. Not even the Real Sociedad players could believe they'd won the game.