Midfield maestro extraordinaire, Xavi Hernandez showed again this week why he is one the best we’ve ever seen.
Trying to pick one star player out of a team that many consider contains some of the greatest players in the world was never going to be easy an task but we’ll give it a go anyway.
Xavi or, as his mammy probably doesn’t call him, Xavier ‘Xavi’ Hernandez i Creus is widely regarded as one of the greatest central midfielders that has ever played the beautiful game. With his distinctively gelled, spiky hair and looking like Andy Garcia’s little brother, Xavi is the number 6 for FC Barcelona and, for the week that’s in it he’s rightly earned all the plaudits he’s received.
Although Messi was rightly praised for his match-changing contribution off the bench against PSG , the most impressive stat of the night, and maybe of the season, is that Xavi had an astonishing 100% pass completion rate for the game. I couldn’t even get that sort of percentage if I was playing with myself… that sounded wrong but you know what I mean.
A product of the famed La Masia – the youth academy of FC Barcelona – Xavi has been Barca’s fulcrum for over a decade and along side Andres Inista he has driven his club and his country to phenomenol success in that time.
In case you were wondering just how succesful he is, here’s a few stats to chew on.
- Xavi has won more trophies than any other Spanish player
- Xavi has been awarded the IFFHS World’s Best Playmaker for 4 years: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
- Xavi is the first player in the FC Barcelona’s history to play 150 international matches
Xavi was an integral part of the sextuple-winning Barcelona side in 2009, the only time which a club has achieved six titles in a year. I’m pretty sure they had to make up that word just to describe the record-breaking Barca side.
The man himself is typically modest of his abilities, stating: “That’s what I do: look for spaces. All day. I’m always looking”.
Sounds simple eh?
And as final proof of just how good Xavi is, have a look at the below video. Sheer class.
