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Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Xavi Now The Champions League Appearance King

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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