Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez has said the women’s team have marked the path for the men to follow after they secured a third successive Primera Division title with a 5-0 win over Real Madrid on Sunday.
Barca have wrapped up the league with six games to spare after winning all 24 of their games to date. They have scored 136 goals across those matches and conceded only six, while their winning run in all competitions spans 38 games, dating back to last season.
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Xavi said the style of football they play and their continued desire for success after winning the Treble last season, represents an example for the men’s team, who are striving to return to the top of the game.
“For several years [the women’s team] have been showing us the way with how they play, how they compete and the hunger they have despite winning everything last year,” Xavi said in a news conference.
“We have been watching them and it’s a wonder to see them play. They are leading the way in the same way as the Dream Team did in their day or as Pep [Guardiola’s] Barca side did later. They are an example for the men’s team.”
The Dream Team is the name given to the Barca side coached by Johan Cruyff at the start of the 1990s which won four league titles in a row and the club’s first European Cup.
Barca’s success under Guardiola, between 2008 and 2012, included three league titles, two Champions Leagues and a six-trophy calendar year in 2009.
Despite a change in coach last summer, with Jonatan Giraldez replacing Lluis Cortes, Barca’s women have picked up where they left off last season, when they won the league, the cup and a first-ever Champions League, beating Chelsea 4-0 in the final.
They have already won the Spanish Supercopa this season — the one trophy that eluded them last term — and are now setting their sights on a four-trophy campaign and an unbeaten league season.
“I don’t think we are conscious of what we are doing,” Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas said, after scoring twice in the win over Madrid in front of 6,000 fans at the Estadi Johan Cruyff on Sunday.
“But I think that’s a good thing. The first stage of the season has served to get us into a position to fight for everything. Now is when the trophies are decided and what matters working hard every day. We want to win the lot.”