Barcelona fought to a 1-0 win away in the Balaeric islands after the Spanish club leb by Xavi outfought Mallorca in what turned into a record-breaking night for the Catalan outfit.
Robert Lewandowski continued his superb start to life in La Liga after his summer arrival from Bayern, with his match-winner seeing him become the fastest player to score 9 goals in the 21st century in his first La Liga campaign while needing just seven matches to do that.
But the 34-year-old was not the only person to add their name into the history books tonight, after Xavi has now gone eighteen matches unbeaten away from home during his managerial career, beating Zinedine Zidane’s previous marker which he set while at Real Madrid.
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The influence that Xavi has had since his return to Barcelona has been impressive after the club was rejuvenated during the 2021-22 La Liga season which saw them claw their way up to second at the end of the season after a poor start.
That run of form has carried over into the current season, which has no doubt been aided after they instituted a massive summer recruitment drive that saw Barça sign Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Koundé, Franck Kessié, Christensen, Héctor Bellerín, and Marcos Alonso.
Many will point to the investment as one of the main factors behind Barcelona’s start to the season in Spain, but the framework that is currently reaping the benefits was already instilled Xavi the previous season.
With Madrid now under pressure to get a result at home against Osasuna tomorrow in order to take back the top spot in the league, the return of a close title race in the top flight of La Liga seems to be back.
