Barcelona manager Xavi has confirmed he is taking legal action against two journalists and insisted he “won’t tolerate lies”.
Javier Miguel and Manuel Jabois – the former being a freelance journalist and the latter working for Spanish newspaper El Pais and appearing on Cadena Ser radio – have both had legal action taken against them by the Barcelona legend.
“This has never happened to me before,” Xavi, 44, said Friday of his decision to file a complaint.
“I understand the criticism and where I stand, but only to a certain extent. What I will not tolerate is lying and making things up.
“I think it’s time to say enough is enough. These are very big lies.
Xavi took legal action against Miguel – who appears in several Spanish media outlets – for alleging he engaged in disrespectful behavior by forcing his staff to place his cellphone on the table to identify possible information leaks, which the Barcelona coach strongly denies.
Xavi later took legal action against the journalist, with Spanish media reporting that the Barcelona coach had given him a deadline to correct his articles.
Spanish media also report that El Pais journalist Jabois is being prosecuted for his comments on El Larguero de Cadena Ser radio showin which he claimed that Xavi had sent him “a few private messages” which were not complimentary.
Jabois said: “It was (the sender of the messages) Xavi, but I’m not going to tell you because it was in private. It was through messages and it was a pretty dirty thing and he didn’t say it in public and that’s it.
Jabois responded to the comments in a subsequent column for El Paisclarifying that Xavi never called him in person but instead complained about the comments through mutual friends.
Xavi was unhappy with the explanation and denies the allegations, insisting the comments were defamatory and that he does not know Jabois personally.
Jabois’ comments came after Xavi asked “who’s laughing now?” following Barcelona’s progression to the quarter-finals of the Champions League after beating Napoli.
This comment related to Barcelona being called “Champions League buffoons (joke)” by Jabois’ colleague at El Pais, Ramon Besa, who had criticized the club’s performance in the competition in recent seasons.
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