Xavi wins sixth league title

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Football

11.05.2011 21:55

Xavi wins sixth league title

Vanessa Forns

With this season�s title, Xavi Hern�ndez has won six league titles with FC Barcelona. Only Ramallets and Guardiola have done the same.

Other players with multiple titles

There is a whole series of players that have won five league titles for Barcelona. The most recent examples are Messi (2004-…), Iniesta(2002-…), Puyol (1999-…) Vald�s. (2002-…), Miguel �ngel Nadal (1991-99), Albert Ferrer (1990-98), Hristo Stoichkov (1990-95, 1996-98), Guillermo Amor (1988-98) and Carles Busquets (1988-98). More distant examples are Seguer (1943-57), C�sar (1942-55), Gonzalvo III (1942-54) and Velasco (1942-54).

2010/11 is a very special season for the FC Barcelona midfielder, who becomes just the third person, after the legendary Antoni Ramallets and the current first team manager Josep Guardiola to win six titles with Bar�a.

Record breaker

He couldn’t have dreamt what he had before him when aged just 11 in July 1991, he joined the ranks of FC Barcelona. He climbed up the ranks and finally broke into the first team in the summer of 1998, for the Spanish Super Cup match with Mallorca. Since then he has played under Van Gaal, Rexach, Antic, Rijkaard and Guardiola, but Xavi has always been one of the centrepieces of the team, and is now the player with the most appearances ever for the club.

Following Ramallets and Guardiola

And now he has six league titles to his name. That’s the same number as the great Antoni Ramallets, considered one of the best goalkeepers in both Bar�a and Spanish footballing history, and who wore the number one jersey at the club for a huge period from 1946 to 1961.

The other player with half a dozen league titles is Xavi’s present manager, Josep Guardiola, who played for the club between 1990 and 2001. He was the central playmaker in the famous Dream Team, and curiously, it was because of an injury in the 1999/2000 season, that his place in the first eleven was taken for much of the campaign by young Xavi.

The former captain eventually left for Italy, making way for the youngster from Terrassa to take his place at the helm of the Barcelona midfield. Xavi Hern�ndez can be considered the natural successor to Guardiola.

Seasons and games

We now look back at the league titles won by Ramallets, Guardiola and Xavi and the number of appearances they made in each of those championship winning seasons:

RAMALLETS (1946-1961)

1947/48: 0
1948/49: 1
1951/52: 28 (Won the Zamora trophy after conceding just 40 goals)
1952/53: 26
1958/59: 28 (Won the Zamora trophy after conceding just 22 goals)
1959/60: 27 (Won the Zamora trophy after conceding just 24 goals)

GUARDIOLA (1990-2001)

1990/91: 3
1991/92: 26
1992/93. 28
1993/94: 34
1997/87: 6 (was injured for much of this season)
1998/99: 22

XAVI (1998-...)

1998/99: 17
2004/05: 36
2005/06: 16 (was injured for much of this season)
2008/09: 35
2009/10: 34
2010/11: 31 (with two games yet to play)