Erik ten Hag has responded to former Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez after he complimented his Manchester United side which knocked his team out of the Europa League in 2023.
Manchester United sacked Erik ten Hag earlier this season after a poor start to his third campaign in charge of the club.
The Dutchman started his time at Old Trafford well. His team finished third in the Premier League, won the Carabao Cup and reached the final of the FA Cup.
Things got worse in the 2023/24 season, with the Reds finishing eighth in the league but an incredible win against Manchester City in the FA Cup final allowed the campaign to end on a high.
There were rumours about the club sacking Ten Hag during that summer but Sir Jim Ratcliffe decided to stick with the United boss and activating the one-year extension in his contract. They went back on that decision within a matter of months.
Xavi compliments Ten Hag’s United side
Many would agree that Ten Hag’s best time in charge of United came in February 2023. The club won knocked Barcelona out of the Europa League three days before beating Newcastle at Wembley to secure their first trophy since 2017.
Marcus Rashford was on fire at that moment in time – he ended the season on 30 goals, with goals against both Barcelona and Newcastle – and there seemed to be progress being made.
In a recent interview with Andy Mitten from The Athletic, ex-Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez has reflected on that Europa League exit to Ten Hag’s side in 2023 and complimented several key players from that tie, including Rashford and Bruno Fernandes.
“[Fernandes], Rashford, Fred, Lisandro and Antony played so well when they played my Barca team,” the World Cup winner stated.
“In the first half of the second leg at Old Trafford, we controlled the game a little bit. But in the second half, they were amazing.
“They played with passion. Fernandes was against me during the game – passion.”
Ten Hag responds to Xavi compliments
Following on from that interview being published, Mitten has revealed that Ten Hag reached out to him to speak about that United side.
The United boss didn’t say much to the journalist but explained that he thought that his old team “could be really strong” when they were fully fit and firing.
“I spoke to Erik ten Hag last night,” Mitten said on the latest episode of the Talk of the Devils podcast.
“I didn’t speak to him in that depth but he’d seen what Xavi Hernandez said about his Manchester United team against Barcelona.
“And he was just saying, ‘When we had all the players right, we could be really strong’… Xavi had picked out Antony, Fred and Marcus Rashford [as standouts], three players who are no longer here.
“So I suppose just reflective of that, it was probably his high point as Manchester United manager, that period.”
That is certainly right. While Ten Hag’s best moment was probably that FA Cup win over City, that period in February 2023 seemed like the best version of his Manchester United side.
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