Xavi’s brother has a ‘100% win rate’ for Barcelona, will be coaching upcoming games

A pattern has been developing over the last couple of seasons during Barcelona games, especially during the rather more intense fixtures. Even more so when the officiating gets a bit a sketchy.

And that is Barcelona coach Xavi racking up bookings like free withdrawals.

For context, Xavi picked up 58 yellow cards in his massive tenure of 780 official games as a Barcelona player, which averages out to around one every 13 games or so. During this time, he only picked up two red cards.

On the contrary, as the coach of Barcelona, Xavi already has 23 in 132 games, which boils down to a booking every 600 minutes or six games or so. He has also managed to match his tally of red cards as a player, with two already as a coach.

Eight of those 23 have come this season itself, including two against Atletico Madrid the last weekend, which turned into a red card and a suspension.

While the standard punishment for this would be two games, La Liga will issue an official punishment for Xavi, which could extend till the Real Madrid clash, which would be the third game.

Either way, Xavi will likely not not be present on the sidelines for the games against Las Palmas and Cadiz after the international break, unless Barcelona’s appeal goes through.

But fear not, coz his assistant, and brother Oscar Hernandez has had a 100% win rate with Barcelona so far. It’s hardly surprising, given Xavi has been suspended for four games already.

Oscar Hernandez’s record

Oscar has managed four games on behalf of Xavi, with the most recent one the 1-0 win against Mallorca at home after Xavi picked up a yellow card against Athletic Club the previous weekend.

He did also coach the second half of the 3-0 win against Atletico, with two goals coming while he was on the touchline.

Can Oscar work his magic once again? (Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)

Before that, Xavi had also been suspended this season for a red card shown against Getafe on matchday one after the Raphinha sending off incident. He was suspended two games for that.

Oscar stepped up to coach the games against Cadiz and Villarreal. The former ended in a 2-0 win, with Pedri and Ferran Torres scoring, while the latter was a 3-4 thriller with Robert Lewandowski on target for the winning goal.

The first match Oscar coached for Barcelona, though, was a 1-0 win against Valencia last season, with Raphinha’s first-half goal enough to seal the deal.

Xavi’s temperament becoming a problem?

Xavi was the most cool-headed person on the pitch during most games as a player, but things certainly have changed since he moved into coaching.

He has admitted on record multiple times that coaching Barcelona is the most stressful job in football, and that any manager here is under severe scrutiny from even before they are appointed.

Most of these yellow cards have come as a result of him arguing against one of the referee’s decisions or defending his players during instances where Xavi thought they had been done dirty.

And while his temperament could be considered a problem, the fact of the matter is that Xavi is set to leave the club at the end of the season and fans and players, alike, will miss his shenanigans on the sidelines starting next season.