There was a day when Xavi Hernandez knew how to remove Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior from a Clasico. Sunday brought us the Clasico in which Vinícius has probably come very close to removing Xavi from his role as Barcelona coach.
That’s how much damage the utterly brilliant Brazil international did in winning the Spanish Supercopa for Los Blancos as he scored three goals in his side’s 4-1 win in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (stream the replay on ESPN+).
Human nature throughout the centuries, has thrived on someone else’s misfortune — Cassandra in Greek mythology, the old hags who sat and knitted by the guillotines in revolutionary Paris, Shakespeare writing incessantly about the “fatal flaws” in the character of great men and women, almost every great opera ending in death and misery, decades of great blues music and almost every country and western song ever.
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Meaning that across the world’s media there will be a huge appetite for analysing, criticising and revelling in the pratfall of a true great — because Xavi suffered one of the most seismic…
