FC Barcelona were forced to fight for their win last night as they beat Real Sociedad 1-0 thanks to an early 11th minute header from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The win not only helped the Blaugrana remain in second place - level on points with third-place Sevilla yet with a game in hand - but it also meant that Xavi held on to an impressive record on the road.
On his watch, since he took over from the fired Ronald Koeman after the Dutchman lost 1-0 to the newly-promoted outfit Rayo Vallecano at Vallecas, the Catalans are undefeated in 12 games away which consist of eight victories and four draws.
As As point out, the run all started at the home of Champions League semi-finalists Villarreal whom Barca scored an impressive 3-1 win over on November 27.
Since then, they have taken on the likes of Osasuna (2-2), Sevilla (1-1), Mallorca (0-1), Granada (1-1), Alaves (0-1), Espanyol (2-2), Valencia (1-4), Elche (1-2), Real Madrid (0-4), Levante (2-3) and Real Sociedad (0-1) who have all failed to overcome their visitors. Impressively across these fixtures, Barca have scored 25 goals and conceded just 11.
Furthermore, Xavi's Barcelona have only tasted defeat twice in his maiden 20 games in the Spanish top flight with forgettable 1-0 home losses to Real Betis and Cadiz.
But had La Liga started on Matchday 13 when he assumed the reins from Koeman, Barca would be second to Madrid by just five points and not their current 15.
If they beat Rayo at Camp Nou on Sunday, this deficit would be reduced to just two points less - or rather Madrid would have 51 points to Barca's 49.
In a true measure of how much Barca have improved away from home on Xavi's watch, you would have to go back to May 22 last year to find their last three points on foreign soil - which came against Eibar in a 1-0 victory - before the club's second all-time appearances leader was appointed.
Ahead of next season, Xavi needs to build on this momentum but also reduce the amount of draws (nine in total) that have been costly in this title race, while also making the Camp Nou into a fortress where defeats aren't given away cheaply.