Xavi Hernández makes his debut on the FC Barcelona coach bench: this is how it was as a player

(CNN Spanish) – By the time the referee kicks off this Saturday, November 20 at 3:00 pm (Miami time) at the Camp Nou, Xavi Hernández’s path as a coach in an elite league will have begun. He will debut with the team of his loves FC Barcelona, ​​the team where he became a legend.

Xavi retired from soccer as a player in 2019 and became coach of Qatar’s Al-Sadd, a team where he won 7 trophies including a league title. This first game against Espanyol marks the beginning of his agreement with FC Barcelona after the departure of Ronald Koeman, which includes the rest of the season plus two additional seasons.

The urgent challenge is to get the Catalan team out of the ninth position in the LaLiga classification table and qualify for the next round in the Champions League, as it is in the fight with Benfica of Portugal.

Xavi, born on January 25 in Terrassa, Spain, made 767 appearances with FC Barcelona, ​​was a fundamental piece with Andrés Iniesta and Lionel Messi in the team that won everything and also at the highest point in Spanish football at the national level between 2008 to 2012.

This is a review of Xavi Hernández’s football career as a player.

Record with FC Barcelona:

4 Champions Leagues

2 Club World Cups

2 European Super Cups

8 league titles

3 King’s Cups

6 Spanish Super Cups

– At the age of 11 he joined the La Masia academy in Barcelona.

– 1998: in May he debuted with the first team and three months later he scored his first goal against Real Mallorca in the Super Cup final.

– 1999: He is named the best player in LaLiga after the title won with Louis van Gaal as coach.

– 2000: in November he made his debut with the Spanish national team in a friendly match against the Netherlands.

– Season 2005-2006: suffered a serious knee injury that kept him four months away from official matches.

– Season 2008-2009: under the command of Pep Guardiola, FC Barcelona achieved the treble consisting of LaLiga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. Xavi had 29 assists and was third in the Ballon d’Or dispute. It was the first of three consecutive third places.

– 2008: he was elected best player of the Eurocup.

– 2010: in July he wins the World Cup in South Africa.

– 2012: Two-time champion with Spain of the European Championship.

– 2014: In January Xavi made 700 appearances for FC Barcelona. He retires from the national team after the World Cup in Brazil.

– 2015: The Catalan team won the treble again. It is the first club to do them twice. That year, after 85 goals in 767 appearances (a club record that was later surpassed by Lionel Messi with 778), Xavi ends with the Catalan club and signs a three-year contract with Qatar’s Al Sadd.

– 2017: Achieves his first trophy with the Qatari team after beating El Jaish in the Qatar Cup.

– 2019: He retires as a professional player in May.

With information from Raúl Sáenz of CNN en Español and Reuters.