Xavi handed red card ban - will he back for El Clásico against Real Madrid?

The Catalan coach was given a red card during Barcelona’s impressive win over Atlético Madrid in LaLiga.

Xavi Hernández, coach of Barcelona, has been punished with a two-match ban following his dismissal for a double yellow card at the Metropolitano against Atlético Madrid on match day 29 of the LaLiga season. The RFEF’s Competition Committee decided to impose this sanction on the coach despite the fact that he is a repeat offender. If he had received one more game, he would have missed El Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu on April 21.

The Barça coach was shown a yellow card and a straight red card almost instantly for protesting from the technical area after the fourth official urged Sánchez Martínez to send him off. There is a video where the official can be seen telling his colleague to “send [Xavi] off, give him a red card”. The referee described the action in the minutes as: “Making observations of a technical nature to one of my decisions, shouting, making inconsiderate gestures”.

What is Xavi’s punishment for his red card?

Xavi must serve a two-match suspension for “protesting to the referee”. A fine of €700 ($763) has been given to the club with a €600 ($654) fine for the coach after the Competition Committee rejected the appeal from the azulgrana. He will not be able to be on the sidelines in the matches against Las Palmas on Saturday, March 30 and against Cádiz at the Nuevo Mirandilla, on Saturday, April 13.

Who will be on the bench for Barcelona since Xavi is suspended?

Once again, his brother, Óscar Hernández, will take over for these two matches. He has already taken over from his brother six times, with an overwhelming return: six matches, six victories, 17 goals scored and three conceded.

Barcelona are currently on the verge of being able to fight in a LaLiga title race. They sit 8 points behind Real Madrid in the table with 8 games to go. While it would take a huge slip up from Los Blancos in order to allow Barça back into a true race for the trophy, Xavi replied “why not?” when asked whether or not his side could dream of what seemed impossible just a few weeks ago.

As for Europe, the blaugrana beat Napoli comfortably over the two legs, drawing away before a fantastic spell at either end of the match made sure the scoreboard was too much for the Serie A champions to come back from.