“I have good memories of the Bernabéu,” Xavi Hernández had said and here was another one for the collection. “Historic,” he called it and it may have given him even more satisfaction than all those other nights as a player. His first visit as Barcelona’s coach, the man entrusted with their revival, saw a run of five consecutive clásico defeats come to a close with an astonishing 4-0 victory at their greatest rivals. An ideologue committed to his footballing faith, he always believed but it still wasn’t supposed to be this good this soon.
Two goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and one each from Ronald Araújo and Ferran Torres completed the scoring but not the story. If Xavi had fondly recalled clásicos where Barcelona “played good football and won, where we felt superior to them”, this was the same, suggesting a seismic shift for his club. With Madrid still 12 points ahead of them, it is too late for this season – and that could have played its part – but maybe not for next year and beyond.
