Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said his team is back following a crushing 4-0 victory over arch-rivals Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Spanish Primera Division on Sunday.
Xavi’s team provided a football lesson in a match that they dominated from start to finish and perhaps deserved to win by more than four goals.
“I’m happy, it’s a fun night,” Xavi told reporters.
“Barcelona is back. Today we showed that we can match the great Real Madrid team at home. It’s a great achievement to support our project in the future.”
Xavi was one of the great Barcelona players, and he is the first person to win as a player and coach by four goals or more at Real Madrid, following he was part of the Catalan team that won 6-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2009.
Xavi added, “I’m glad we were much better than Real Madrid. We played a great match. I enjoy it because I’m more than just a Barcelona coach, I’m a lifelong fan of the club, so evenings like this are the ones you will never forget.”
Barcelona have not beaten Real Madrid for three years, a poor record that says a lot regarding the club’s suffering in recent years.
“It was important to put an end to these consecutive defeats, the negative mentality and the feeling the club is going through,” Xavi said.
The result provides a strong confirmation that Barcelona is on the right path following starting anew following the departure of Lionel Messi before the start of the current season due to the club’s financial problems.
The club bottomed by their standards, having slipped to ninth in the league when Ronald Koeman was sacked earlier in the season.
Xavi revived Barcelona, who moved up to third in the standings and have not lost since losing following extra time to Athletic Bilbao in the King’s Cup on January 20.
Barcelona scored 24 goals in its last seven matches in the league, and scored 23 points out of 27 in the league and qualified for the quarter-finals of the European League.
“I was more impressed with the way the players fought than the four goals, how they ran and participated in every game, it’s inspiring,” Xavi said.
“I don’t think we can compete for the title. Real Madrid are 12 points ahead and we arrived too late, but the future is bright for us.”
