24 years since Xavi Hernández made his FC Barcelona debut

It was exactly 24 years ago today that Xavi Hernández made his senior debut for FC Barcelona. It was on 24 March 1998 that he played all 90 minutes a 2-1 victory in the Copa Catalunya semi-final against Unió Esportiva Lleida. He was just 18 years and two months old at the time.

It was a curious game for several reasons. For a start, the goalscorer for the opposing team was Tito Vilanova, who would later go on to manage Barça. And the Barça coach that day was none other than José Mourinho, now of AS Roma, who head coach Louis Van Gaal offered the chance to take charge of things for the day.

Barça’s two goals that day were scored by Jofre Mateu.

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Louis Van Gaal was impressed by what he saw and two months later on 18 August 1998, Xavi got his first official start in a game away to Mallorca. Barça lost 2-1, but the debutant scored his team’s only goal. Some way to start!

He’d go on to play for 17 seasons, making 767 official appearances. The midfield maestro was one of the principal artifices of one the greatest generation of Barça players ever, winning a ridiculous number of major trophies, including eights Liga and four Champions Leagues and historic trebles in both the 2008/09 and 2014/15 seasons.

Back as manager

After departing the club with full honours, Xavi was back on 20 November 2021, this time as manager. Since a 1-0 defeat of Espanyol in his first game in charge, the team has outshone everyone else in La Liga, culminating in a glorious 4-0 win at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday.

Barça are unbeaten in 12 games, which have included other spectacular performances, such as the 4-1 win at Valencia, the 4-2 victory in Naples and the 4-0 trouncing of Athletic at Camp Nou.