Should he play tonight, Xavi Hernandez will appear for Barcelona in his 37th Clasico against Real Madrid, drawing level with two Madrid icons from the past.
Raul Gonzalez and Fernando Hierro both appeared in 37 Clasicos during their careers at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Xavi is set to match their tally if he plays in Tuesday evening’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg at Camp Nou.
The 33-year-old, who has a contract until June 2016, remains on course to appear in the most Clasicos, with Madrid’s Manolo Sanchis on 43 and Francisco Gento on 42 currently holding the top two all-time appearance slots for the fixture.
Xavi’s 36 games against Madrid so far are broken into 25 League encounters, three in the Champions League, four in the Copa del Rey and four in the Supercopa de Espana.
Iker Casillas with 34, Carles Puyol with 31, Andres Iniesta on 24 and Victor Valdes on 25 are the active players with the next highest number of appearances in the fixture.
