"I came to Barcelona because of him," this star supported Xavi amid criticism

Barcelona have struggled of late. While they had had a very good start to the season, leading their Champions League group and competing with Girona and Real Madrid in La Liga, things started to get complicated for them in the last few weeks. It all started with the painful defeat against Los Merengues in the 'Clasico' at Montjuic. And it got worse when they unexpectedly lost against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

Since then fans and the press have criticized the players, especially stars like Robert Lewandowski, but mainly Xavi Hernandez. Many believe the manager has failed to identify the team's problems, let alone solve them. And they believe he has made key wrong decisions.

However, Barcelona's players have publicly shown their support for the coach on every occasion they have been consulted about it. Now it was Ilkay Gundogan who did so, in an interview with Sporx: "I have a good relationship with Xavi. I came to Barcelona because of him and I spoke to him twice before I spoke on the phone. I think we have a great compatibility."

And then he compared him to Pep Guardiola, who was his coach at Manchester City and also managed Xavi Hernandez in that remembered Barcelona team between 2008 and 2012: "Pep has many years of experience, while Xavi is in his fifth season as a coach and third in Europe, but his vision of soccer is similar".

What will happen to him?

Ilkay Gundogan was one of Barcelona's most important signings last summer. He arrived as a free agent from Manchester City after winning the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup titles. While he has performed well in Spain, rumors spread this week about his supposed departure to Galatasaray in Turkey. However, people close to the German midfielder denied that this is true and assured that he is comfortable in Catalonia.