An appreciation thread for the man who gets the job done without bringing attention to himself. Monday he turned 30. Appreciate him while he's still lacing them up because you'll miss him once he's gone. How old is he here? Note the Meyba shirt (!) Scoring in his 1998 debut, Supercopa against Mallorca. WINNERS MEDALS 1998–99: La Liga Champion 1999: FIFA U-20 World Cup Champion 2000: Olympic Games, Silver Medal 2004–05: La Liga Champion 2005: Supercopa de España winner 2005–06: La Liga Champion 2005–06: UEFA Champions League winner 2006: Supercopa de España winner 2008: UEFA European Football Championship winner 2008–09: Copa del Rey winner 2008–09: La Liga Champion 2008–09: UEFA Champions League winner 2009: Supercopa de España winner 2009: UEFA Super Cup winner 2009: FIFA Club World Cup winner INDIVIDUAL AWARDS 1999: Don Balón Award for Breakthrough Player of the Year 2005: Don Balón Award for Spanish Player of the Year in La Liga 2007-08: FIFPro World XI 2008: EURO 2008 Player of the Tournament 2008: IFFHS World's best playmaker 2008: UEFA Team of the Year 2008: FIFA.com Team of the Year 2008-09: Most assists in La Liga (20) 2008-09: Most assists in UEFA Champions League (7) 2008-09: Man of the Match, UEFA Champions League Final 2008-09: UEFA Club Best Midfielder 2008-09: LFP Best Midfielder 2008-09: FIFPro World XI 2009: 3rd Place, Ballon d'Or 2009: FIFA Club World Cup, Bronze Ball 2009: 3rd Place, FIFA World Player of the Year 2009: UEFA Team of the Year 2009: IFFHS World's best playmaker MOST APPEARANCES ALL-TIME, FC BARCELONA Migueli (548 matches) *Xavi (472) Carles Rexach (452) Guillermo Amor (421) * Could be wrong but entering the 2009/10 season I had him at 472. As of this posting I have him in 33 matches this season for a current total of 505.
He is my all time favorite Barcelona player. I remember that supercopa game, cause it was one of the last ones i saw with my grandpa. The game wasnt shown live so we had to watch it at night. Xavi is a football legend, he has only the WC to win. Should be somewhere in the top 30 or 40 players of all time. Visca Xavi! i Visca el BarÇa!
Forget the economic recovery, Xavi is the economical miracle. Never takes too many touches. Never holds the ball too long. Always finds a decent pass and more often than not, a perfect pass. My 2008/2009 Barça jersey has his name on the back. Best shirt I own.
Thanks for all the photos everyone. I must say that the weight he puts on some of his through balls is absolutely brilliant. I don't think anyone does that nearly as much as he does. A fantastic footballer. By the way, does anyone think that Xavi could be (if you glanced and looked away) a cousin of the character "Ted" from the tv show "How I Met Your Mother"?
Nicely done, Ron. A true legend, an amazing passer, a midfield brain, a clinical finisher. And to top it all, a gentleman on and off the field. All those honors and still he's very underrated. A whole life as a blaugrana. He's been, by far the most important player for Barca player these past 10 years. Another picture of him, from 1991:
Nice, Ron. Now unleash the compilation fest, awful soundtracks and all... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSCjTSgofmY"]Xavi Hernandez per sempre[/ame]
I approve this message. I think people (and sometimes us) take Xavi's unbelievable consistency for granted. It's the rare rare rare game when he isn't playing at a World Class level.
Xavi is the reason I fell in love with FC Barcelona. His poise and vision can not be touched by any other midfielder in the game right now. My only regret is not following Barcelona earlier so I could have seen more of Xavi and his unbelievable ability. My favorite jersey I own is the #6 from last year's team. I feel like I have convinced several people of the beauty that lies in soccer by just having them watch how he plays the game.
Classic Xavi: the pass to Messi in the CL final. A quick look up and flicks it up over Rio's head with the right bend to bring it back down to Messi: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMtEF6WCvAA"]YouTube- FC Barcelona 2-0 Manchester United Final 27-05-2009 HD Champions League 2009 Messi's Goal[/ame]
Xavi has always been fundamental to Barca. The midfield belongs to Xavi. Ive said that a million times, wrote it here maybe a few times too. When Xavi is on, Barca is unstopable, if you neutralize Xavi, you can beat Barca, it's that simple. Xavi has this one move, I call it the "Xavi turn". He'll take the ball with his left or right, whatever suits him at the time, and turn all the way around in a 360 in 2 steps. He's been doing it for years. Lately Iv'e seen it in other players, but it's Xavi's move, when I see another player do it, even a Barca player (Iv'e seen Iniesta do it alot lately), I know they copied Xavi. Watch him next game. Look for the Xavi turn, you'll see what I mean.
Ah, nothing I can post but at the bookstore there was a "New Year 2010" edition of football magazine fourfourtwo that had an article with none other that Xavi. It's a really good article, and shows how humble he is, and how Barcelona is more than a club. He even schooled Hleb on some of the principles. Check it out if you can.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1ZMePAJXLQ"]YouTube- Xavi e Iniesta en 'Informe Robinson' VOL 1/3 (22.02.10) FULL[/ame]
probably really old, but still i found it funny. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn1mq73iy-w&feature=related"]Xavi and Iker[/ame]
The Legend becomes more Legendary. Sunday's 3-0 victory over Valencia marked Xavi's 195th win in La Liga, which equals the club record held by that other legend, Migueli. Xavi equalled the mark having played in 49 fewer matches, which means he's won 57% of the league games he's played in. Most La Liga victories in club history 195 - Xavi Hernández (342 matches, 57%) 195 - Migueli (391, 49.9%) 190 - Guillermo Amor (311, 61%) 185 - Carles Puyol (320, 57.8%)
Re: The Legend becomes more Legendary. Impressive, given that he got started playing a lot of games during the most recent dark years (2000-2003).
Re: The Legend becomes more Legendary. As did Puyol, whose numbers aren't too shabby either. Caveman deserves his own "Legend" thread too.