Xavi, to maintain his positive balance at the Bernabeu

Barcelona, 19 Mar Xavi Hernández will visit Santiago Bernabeu this Sunday for the first time as coach, a stadium where, as a Barcelona player, he played 21 classics with a positive balance of eight wins, seven losses and six draws. In the fief of the top rival, the Terrassa midfielder scored two goals and gave eight assists. Besides, he was expelled once. His last visit dates back to November 25, 2014, when Barça lost 3-1 to Real Madrid in the league match. Xavi started and was replaced in the 60th minute by Ivan Rakitic. Although Santiago Bernabeu ended up becoming a place of great joy for the current Barcelona coach, at first it was a scenario that resisted him. In fact, he did not achieve his first win until his fifth visit after reaping two defeats and two draws. But Xavi will never forget the first victory there. That April 25, 2004 was the 86th minute of the league classic when Ronaldinho executed a spoon pass so that Xavi on the volley made Iker Casillas' start useless and put 1-2 on the scoreboard. It was one of the most important triumphs of the beginning of the era led by the Brazilian player. Precisely, Ronaldinho would be the main protagonist of Xavi's second triumph at the Santiago Bernabeu. Also in the Liga, on November 19, 2005 Barça won by 0-3 with two goals from the Porto Alegre footballer and an exhibition that even deserved the applause of the rival fans. Xavi's other two big wins at home for Real Madrid were the historic 2-6 in the league on May 2, 2009, in which the midfielder gave no less than four goal assists, and the 0-2 win in the first leg of the 2010-2011 Champions League semifinals, held on April 27, 2011. That same year, Xavi scored his second and final goal at the Bernabeu. It was in the league classic on December 10, 2011, in which Barça won 1-3. Xavi was the author of the momentary 1-2 with a volley from the front of the box that Marcelo diverted before sneaking into the goal of Casillas. On the other hand, their worst experience in the house of the eternal rival took place on May 7, 2008, the night that Barça made the corridor to Real Madrid as league champions. The whites went over the Bazulgranas. They were endorsed with a painful 4-1 and marked the end of the Rijkaard era. In addition, Xavi was sent off in the added time by double yellow card. This was the heaviest defeat Xavi suffered as a player at Santiago Bernabeu, along with the one he received on his first visit, on February 26, 2000. Barça lost 3-0 with Louis van Gaal on the bench and Terrassa's jumped onto the pitch at halftime to replace Winston Bogarde when the score was already 2-0. Xavi's story as Real Madrid's home coach will begin this Sunday with a difficult challenge: breaking Barça's seven-game streak without beating the white team. The last Barça triumph in a 'classic' was 5-1 in the league on 28 October 2018. CHIEF 1011955 sej/vmc/og