You know the basic plot of almost every highly successful entrepreneur’s life story – start a low-profile self-funded business in your uncle’s warehouse, trust your knowledge and passion, and, from there on, only the sky is the limit.The Polish city of Krakow and their 33,130-seater Mielski could be just the suitable substitute for the uncle’s warehouse. Especially bearing in mind the disappointingly low attendance of only 9,000 that night in August 1998. That handful of Wisla’s fans didn’t know they were witnessing the historical moment of Xavi Hernandez’s Champions League debut. Then-teenager of only 18, he played the entire game under the command of his former youth coach Carles Rexach in a thrilling 4-3 away win.History has been written that day in Poland in 1998 (©YouTube/SC)To be precise, it was the UCL qualifier 3rd round match, and the first actual Champions League game of his was as spectacular as it gets. It was a total opposite of that Krakow tie, played at the Theatre of Dreams in front of 53,600 fans against the reigning champions Manchester United. The clash of two mercurial sides ended in a stalemate with six goals on the scoreboard, while Xavi had to wait for his chance at the bench. Louis Van Gaal brought him in for a legendary Rivaldo 20 minutes before the end.What a debut, huh…And now, 23 years later, it’s time for a new chapter, a new beginning for the Barca legend, as the Blaugrana host Benfica tonight in their UCL fixture at Camp Nou.This will be Xavi’s maiden UCL game in the dugout, after a successful starter in La Liga on Saturday, toping city rival Espanyol 1-0. Against the Portuguese slot, it will be twice as difficult for the new boss to pick up another win.Moreover, Barca will have to be extremely cautious since Benfica are only two points adrift, having trashed the Catalans heavily in Lisbon 3-0 when the two sides met in September.It was meant to be – Xavi is officially the new Barca managerAn eventual loss would be a true nightmare for already traumatised giants, which desperately need millions guaranteed only in a case of advancing to the next round.On the other hand, Bayern Munich are sitting comfortably at the top of the log, facing Dynamo Kyiv in a dead-rubber. If the game was played at the time of Xavi’s Krakow debut, that would be a massive game and a proper derby, but the era of Andriy Shevchenko, Sergei Rebrov and their father figure Valeriy Lobanovskyi is long gone, and Ukrainians are anything but fierce rivals for the Bavarians.CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP E – ROUND 5 TUE: 20.45: (8.00) DYNAMO KYIV (5.30) BAYERN MUNICH (1.40)TUE: 23.00: (1.70) BARCELONA (3.90) BENFICA (5.50)
