Incredible Zidane stat puts Xavi’s Barcelona start in the shade
Robin Bairner
- 25 Apr 2022 17:32 BST
- 3 min read
Xavi’s start as Barcelona head coach has been widely heralded, yet compared to former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane it is positively sluggish.
Zidane took to management with ease that surprised many critics as he led Los Blancos to back-to-back Champions League titles as well as a Spanish title.
Xavi, meanwhile, is coming from a position of greater experience, having coached Al Sadd from 2019-2021 and has also made a positive impression, with Barcelona now second in La Liga, having been in danger of missing out on the Champions League entirely next season before his arrival.
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In recent weeks, though, Barca have stuttered. On Sunday, they slumped to a 1-0 home defeat to Rayo Vallecano, which meant they lost three successive home games in the same season for the first time in their entire history. Previously, they had been beaten by Cadiz in the league and Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League.
Sunday’s loss was the seventh that he has suffered in 32 matches in charge of the Catalan side.
Zidane's incredible start at Real Madrid
Remarkably, by the time Zidane suffered his seventh loss as Real Madrid head coach – a 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid in a Champions League semi-final second-leg match – he had already claimed three titles.
The 2015/16 Champions League was the first to be claimed and was followed by the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup in 2016.
Incredibly, between that loss to Atleti and the next defeat that Real Madrid would suffer, which came against Girona the following October, Zidane would secure another three trophies: La Liga 2016/17, the Champions League of the same season and another UEFA Super Cup.
Xavi, meanwhile, is still waiting on his first silverware with Real Madrid, having failed so in the Champions League, the Copa del Rey, the Supercopa and the Europa League.
