Xavi Hernández is dyeing the duels with Carlo Ancelotti more blaugrana every day. Since their arrival, they have faced up to six times, with a total balance of four wins for Barcelona for two wins for Real Madrid. The result acquires more importance if one takes into account that none of these six games have been played at the Camp Nou: three have been in the Bernabéu and the other three in neutral fields.
The first duel for both came practically with Xavi recently landed in Barcelona. The blaugrana team faced the whites in the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup in January 2022 in Riyadh. The game ended with a 2-2 tie, so extra time was needed to find out the winner, falling in favor of Real Madrid, thanks to Valverde’s goal.
In the second, two months later, there was an absolute reversal of the balance: Barcelona destroyed Real Madrid at the Bernabéu, with a scandalous win (0-4), thanks to goals from Aubameyang (2), Araújo and Fernando Torres.
Then came the pre-season friendly in Las Vegas, where Barcelona once again took the lead (0-1), with an extraordinary goal from outside the Raphinha area.
Although, Ancelotti partly removed the thorn three months later, when he defeated Xavi in LaLiga, with a clear and unappealable 3-1. In fact, it was the last victory so far for the Italian in the Classics.
And it is that both in the final of the Spanish Super Cup in January, with Barcelona ‘dancing’ to the whites, to end up winning 3-1, and in the first leg of the Cup semifinal at the Bernabéu, (0 -1), Xavi has gotten away with it, making it clear that the dominance of Real Madrid in Spanish football is beginning to have its days numbered.
These latest results favorable to the blaugrana interests have returned to equalize the Classics practically to the sum zero: Real Madrid has 101 victories to 99 for Barcelona, with 419 goals for the whites and 413 for the blaugrana.
Taking into account that in the next month there will be two new Clásicos, both at the Camp Nou, everything indicates that Barcelona would be in a position to equalize the victories at 101. The one who has already emerged as the clear winner is Sergio Busquets, who has become the footballer with the most Clásicos, 46, surpassing Sergio Ramos and Leo Messi. And who remains at the top of the scorers’ table is Leo Messi, with 26, eight more than Real Madrid’s Di Stefano and Cristiano Ronaldo.
By the way, in this duel between Xavi and Ancelotti, the Spaniard is also clearly the winner in terms of performance in LaLiga: the former has 132 points compared to 128 for the latter.
