Xavi Hernandez is not having a particularly good season with FC Barcelona this time around after having won two titles last year.
The last few days have been particularly harsh for the Barcelona head coach and midfield legend. His side was thumped 4-1 by their fiercest rivals Real Madrid in the final of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, and Xavi had to take most of the blame for this crushing defeat.
However, Monday was a somewhat better day for the former midfielder, as his achievements last season were recognized in the Best FIFA award ceremony. MARCA has reported the main highlights of the event.
Xavi ranked fourth in the list of the best managers for the last year after having won the Spanish Super Cup and La Liga with Barcelona and was accompanied by some very high-profile names in this regard.
A former Barcelona manager, Pep Guardiola, was selected as the best manager of the last year, as he got 28 points for winning the Champions League and the Premier League with Manchester City.
The former Napoli and the current Italian national team manager, Luciano Spaletti, stood second in the rankings with 18 points, after having won the Serie A with the Naples side.
Simeone Inzaghi, the current Inter Milan manager, shared the number of points with Xavi but was third in the rankings because of having more first-choice nominations from national team captains. His highlights last year included reaching the final of the UEFA Champions League with Inter Milan.
The biggest award of the night went to another Barcelona legend, Lionel Messi. The Argentine had the same number of votes as the Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, but was ranked the first as he had more first-choice nominations from national team captains.
However, Messi was not attending the event, and another former Barcelona star, Thierry Henry accepted the award on his behalf.
On the women’s side, it was the Barcelona Femeni midfielder Aitana Bonmati who won the highest award for women, i.e., The Best Women’s Player Award. Her highlights over the last year included winning the World Cup with Spain, an event where she also won the Golden Ball.
