Barcelona coach: What matters is that records are translated into titles

Xavi Hernandez made Barcelona's coach's best-ever start outside the Camp Nou in La Liga after avoiding defeat in his first 18 away games in a 1-0 win in Mallorca yesterday.

Xavi broke Zinedine Zidane's record with Real Madrid in 2016, and during this series he achieved 13 wins against five draws since the succession of Ronald Koeman last year.

Xavi told reporters after the victory, "Records do not help much if they are not translated into titles, they mean that we are on the right path, even when playing on our land as well."

He added, "If records are translated into titles, they will taste better, but we are anticipating events."

Barcelona's performance was not "shiny", as Xavi admitted, and only a goal by Robert Lewandowski, and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen starred in the absence of defenders Ronald Araujo, Jules Conde and Hector Bellerin for injuries during the international break.

And the former midfielder continued, "The shortening of the match in the brilliance of Lewandowski and Ter Stegen is a poor reduction. We defended well and (Gerard) Pique and (Jordi) Alba played an excellent match despite the difficulty."

Barcelona topped the league temporarily, one point behind champion Real Madrid, who hosts Osasuna today.

Xavi's team will visit Inter Milan in the Champions League next Tuesday.

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