Barcelona head coach Xavi believes the Champions League victories enjoyed by Real Madrid and Villarreal this week show that Spain’s La Liga is “not far behind” England’s Premier League.
On Tuesday, Madrid progressed to the Champions League semi-finals with a 5-4 aggregate victory over holders Chelsea, while Villarreal produced an unlikey 2-1 aggregate win over Bayern Munich.
Xavi, a four-time Champions League winner with Barcelona in his playing days, says these wins show the quality of Spanish football.
“What happened on Tuesday shows that La Liga is not far behind the Premier League,” Xavi said ahead of Barcelona’s Europa League quarter-final second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Barcelona themselves were knocked out of this season’s Champions League, with then-coach Ronald Koeman only able to oversee two victories as his side finished third in their group.
Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, are 1-0 down to Manchester City ahead of Wednesday’s quarter-final second leg in Spain.
“No matter what, La Liga will always be La Liga and it’s very competitive,” Xavi added. “I saw both games. I am a football fan.
“In the end, our main goal is to be back in the Champions League.
“By the way, Villarreal are a big club now, aren’t they? You all should put them on your ‘big clubs’ list.”
Premier League clubs have faced La Liga clubs in 11 matches in European competition this season, with English sides winning seven and Spanish sides winning three.
The Premier League and La Liga are the top two UEFA-ranked divisions by club coefficient — the system used to determine how many Champions League places a league gets based on the performance of its clubs in European competitions over the past five seasons.
La Liga (94.9) is nine points behind the Premier League (103.8) and 20 points ahead of Serie A (75.6.)
Xavi’s Barcelona are the favourites to win the Europa League, but head into Thursday’s match at the Nou Camp having only drawn 1-1 in last week’s first leg against Eintracht.
(Photo: Getty Images)
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