Thegoalmac congratulates legend Xavi,as he has become the all-time Champions League appearance record holder after appearing from the bench in Barcelona's clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
The
central midfielder has been ever-present in the Catalunya club's first
team for over 15 years, during which time the Blaugrana have won the
Champions League three times and reached at least the semi-final stage
on nine occasions.
Having
gone level with Real Madrid striker Raul in Champions League
appearances in their opening 2014-15 group stage clash with APOEL, Xavi went outright top in the all-time tally after coming on in the 69th minute for Ivan Rakitic against PSG on Tuesday.
Xavi,
34, has now played in the elite European tournament 143 times - having
made his debut against Manchester United in 1998-99 - which is one more
than Raul achieved while playing for Barca's arch-rivals Madrid and
Bundesliga outfit Schalke.
However, Xavi's status as all-time
Champions League appearance holder is not guaranteed to last the season
as Iker Casillas, Madrid's captain and current first-choice goalkeeper,
made his 141st appearance in matchday one of this season's group stage
competition.
He has also struggled to hold down a consistent
place in Luis Enrique's line-up this season, with summer signing Rakitic
and Barca veterans Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets more often picked
to start in midfield for the Camp Nou club.
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