Xavi faces 'biggest challenge of career' as Barcelona coach

Xavi Hernandez said he is prepared for the "biggest challenge of his career" before leaving Qatar for Spain on Saturday, as Barcelona's legendary former midfielder returns home to take over as coach.

Xavi's appointment was confirmed by Barca in the early hours of Saturday morning and the 41-year-old will be presented to fans at Camp Nou on Monday.

He landed in Barcelona at just before 1pm local time on Saturday after travelling with his family, agents and coaching staff. 

"I'm very happy as you can imagine, it's the biggest challenge of my career," Xavi had told Spanish journalists at Doha airport. "I'm going home and I am very happy."

Xavi faces a huge challenge, with Barcelona adrift of La Liga's top four, struggling to make the knock-out stages of the Champions League and grappling with debts of more than a billion euros.

"I have also experienced bad situations," Xavi said. "It's not the best moment in the history of the club but I want to explain what my idea is and to work hard, to make a team. Obviously the first thing is to talk to the players to see how they are."

Xavi left Camp Nou to play for Qatari club Al Sadd in 2015, after making 767 appearances for Barcelona, with eight La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues among his 25 trophies.

"It's time to come home. Welcome, Xavi," Barca tweeted in the early hours of Saturday morning, as Spain slept. 

"It wasn't goodbye, it was see you later," it wrote, along with a video montage of the player's departure in 2015.

Barcelona said in a statement they had reached an agreement with Xavi to become first-team coach for the rest of the season and two more seasons, replacing the sacked Ronald Koeman.