Europe is not a testament to Xavi. In cups, it has a win rate of only 25%

It’s been a year and a quarter since Xavi joined the Barcelona bench. While he has lifted the Catalans quite a bit in La Liga, he has absolutely failed to do well in Europe. He has been present at two Champions League qualifying group eliminations and also twice from the Europa League.

Xavi joined the Barcelona bench the November before last. He had his last two games to play, against Benfica and Bayern, and everything was in his hands. All he had to do was beat Benfica Lisbon at home and the Catalans would have secured promotion.

However, Barcelona only drew 0-0 at home against the Portuguese side, then lost 0-3 to Bayern and were knocked out of the Champions League due to Benfica’s win over Dynamo Kiev.

Xavi hasn’t had much success in the Europa League either. He first drew 1-1 with Napoli, then won 4-2. He then drew 0-0 with Galatasaray and won 2-1. Barcelona then faced Frankfurt, with whom they drew 1-1 and lost 2-3.

In this year’s Champions League, Barcelona didn’t celebrate many wins either. They only beat Plzen twice, lost to Bayern twice and drew and lost to Inter Milan. In the Europa League, they then drew and lost to Manchester United.

In total, Xavi thus coached 16 matches in European Cups, of which he won only four. He could only beat Viktoria Plzen twice, Napoli once and Galatasaray once.

This makes the winning percentage only 25%. The overall record is 16 matches. 4 wins, 6 draws and 6 defeats.

While Xavi is doing well in La Liga and leads the league by eight points ahead of Real Madrid, when it comes to the tougher European games, Barcelona are well behind.

Source: UEFA, Barcelona