Rosell proud of Vilanova choice

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell feels sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta made the right decision to promote Tito Vilanova to head coach.

Vilanova replaced Pep Guardiola at the end of the 2011/12 campaign following the latter’s decision to take a break from the game for a year, and Barca are more than satisfied with his former assistant’s work so far this season, as they lead La Liga by 11 points.

“Tito has talent, he understands what Barcelona mean, what La Masia is and what being Catalan means,” Rosell told reporters.

“It was a brilliant decision by Zubizarreta to give him the job.”

Rosell then went on to say that he does not expect Xavi Hernandez to retire any time soon after the veteran midfielder put pen to paper on a new contract on Monday.

“He has just renewed his contract until 2016. He’ll be 36 years old by then, but we believe this deal won’t be the last he signs with us.”

Barca are preparing for the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final against arch-rivals Real Madrid on Wednesday.