Xavi Hernandez reaches 50 matches with depressing Barcelona record

With Sunday’s El Clasico, Xavi Hernandez took charge of his 50th match presiding over Barcelona. It was not a happy anniversary for Xavi though, as Barcelona fell to defeat and relinquished top spot in La Liga to their arch nemesis Real Madrid.

Los Blancos ended Xavi and Barcelona’s 18-game unbeaten run away from home, a La Liga record, and condemned Xavi to his 11th defeat as Blaugrana manager. Over his 50 games he has 28 victories and 11 draws to go with those losses, giving him a win percentage of 56%.

As per Pedro Martin however, it gives him the worst record of any Barcelona manager to reach 50 matches since Lorenzo Serra Ferrer in 2003. Frank Rijkaard, who arrived then and was in charge of Xavi, recorded the same number of victories but with an extra draw instead of a loss. Luis Enrique has the best record with 42 wins from his first 50.

Even Ronald Koeman, who was hounded out of Camp Nou, managed to win 33 matches of his first 50. As has been pointed out, the Dutchman arguably had a worse squad on paper too.

Others have signalled that not only is Xavi part of a major rebuilding project, he is also the first of those managers to have had to do so without Lionel Messi. The Argentine alone has been the difference for the Blaugrana on many occasions.