El Clásico: how many Clásicos has Xavi played in and won as a player?
One of the best players to ever play in soccer’s biggest game and with a fitting record to boot. Let’s take a look at Xavi.
As he prepares to lead the Blaugrana into battle against their eternal rivals, we take a look at the former midfield maestro’s record as a player against the team he will now face as a coach, Real Madrid.
Follow the match between Real Madrid - Barcelona here
‘El Clasico’ is as big as it gets
There are many great rivalries in the world of sport, both from the past and the present. From Boxing’s Joe Frazier vs Muhammad Ali, to the glory days of the Lakers’ feud with the Celtics. There is also the Red Sox vs Yankees and of course the Packers and the Bears. Yet, regardless of what sport you follow, it can’t be denied that the biggest of all is that of FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid. Giants of Spanish soccer, the two sides represent the very definition of opposing forces when it comes to their history, the ethos, their style and quite frankly, their place in national identity.
The ‘Blaugrana’ like their arch enemies the ‘Merengues’ are among the few teams in world soccer that are city owned. That’s to say, there is no billionaire owner or private investment group as the primary stake holder, but instead the club members or rather citizens of Barcelona and Madrid respectively. Without going on a winding walk through history - this isn’t the place for that - we’ll simply say, this match represents a clash between two very different cultural identities, who share what has been a complex and at times violent past together. To say there is passion wouldn’t do it justice, to call it soccer’s biggest game outside of the World Cup Final wouldn’t either. Ultimately this is something apart, it’s El Clasico.
Xavi is one of Barcelona’s favored sons
When he made his debut for the Catalans in 3-1 win over Valencia on October 3rd 1998, fans knew that he was supposed to be quite useful. Few could have understood, however, that they were witnessing the first minutes of a player who would turn out to be one of the best midfielders the world has ever seen. An understudy of Pep Guardiola, Xavi has also frequently credited English players John Barnes, Paul Gascoigne and Matt Le Tissier as being major influences. Incidentally, he was named La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year in that first season.
What’s Xavi’s record against Real Madrid in ‘El Clasico’
If there is one person in the club that knows Real Madrid well, it’s got to be Xavi. When his charges take on Los Blancos this coming Sunday, it will of course be without Xavi pulling the strings in the middle of the park, but rest assured he will be doing so from the sidelines. As for how he fared when he was on the field, during a Barcelona career that ran from 1998 to 2015, Xavi faced Real Madrid a total of 42 times. Of those matches, he was on the winning side on 17 occasions, the losing side on 13 and managed to grind out a draw on 12. Given the changes to the both teams during that time, those are some impressive numbers. The most important question now is, ‘can he add another win to the list from the touchline?’