Former Barcelona manager lavishes praise on Xavi: “The king of football”

Frank Rijkaard has made a very rare media appearance, speaking to the official media channel of Barcelona. His media appearance coincided with Barça Foundation playing in Amsterdam with the Ajax-Only brotherhood, two teams made up of people with intellectual disabilities.

The Dutchman, who was in attendance at the said friendly, talked about the current season of Barça while praising head coach Xavi Hernandez. He also hailed club president Joan Laporta, having worked together with the Spaniard in the past.

During his time as coach Rijkaard had managed Xavi before eventually quitting Barça in 2008. In fact, the current Barça coach was one of the most used players under his stint, featuring in 224 matches.

“I have great memories of Xavi, he has become the king of football,” said Rijkaard (h/t Diario SPORT), who had managed Barcelona from 2003 to 2008.

“I am very happy for him to see that the team is on the right track to win the league. Xavi deserves it and so do the Barça fans. I am also happy with President Joan Laporta, with whom we work together. It is a pleasure to see them achieve success,” he added.

“They have had a very good season. Having won the Spanish Super Cup is already very important. I hope that soon we can see Barça champion of the League again. It was an honour to have worked there,” Rijkaard further added.

Under the leadership of Rijkaard, Barcelona had won the UEFA Champions League trophy in 2006 as well as two La Liga titles. But he is most notably famous for giving a debut to a certain Lionel Messi and his subsequent breakthrough in the world of football.

Rijkaard’s last managerial stint came with Saudi Arabia back in 2013, but the Dutchman hasn’t managed a team since, mostly restricting himself to his personal life and occasional appearances in footballing events.