Xavi proves lucky charm for Barca

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admits his side were lucky to come away with a 1-0 win from their La Liga clash with Granada on Tuesday night.

It was a tough night for the Catalans and they had to grind out the result thanks to a first-half free-kick from skipper Xavi.
"We were lucky to have won," Guardiola told Sport.es.

"Anything could have happened at 1-0 as they have dangerous players.

"We were not fast enough in moving the ball around. We would take four or five touches before playing it on; we are usually strong at this.

"In any case I felt we were in command of the game."

Xavi, who was making a club record 392nd Liga appearance on Tuesday, was fouled on the edge of the area just after the thirty minute mark. The World Cup winning midfielder stood up and put away a brilliant free kick past the helpless Granada keeper to send Barca back to the top of the table before Wednesday's round of matches.

Xavi was earlier in the week named Player of the Year 2010-11 with more than half a million votes in a poll organised by the club's online supporters community.