Xavi HernándezA Doctorate in Football
Nicknames: Position: Clubs: Squad Number:
Xavi is a product of the Barcelona youth system. He arrived at the Masia aged 11 and has spent all of his career at the Camp Nou. He quickly made his way through the youth and reserve teams and was a key member of Jordi Gonzalvo's FC Barcelona B team that won promotion to the Segunda División. His progression through the teams earned him a first team debut on August 18, 1998 in the Spanish Super Cup, in which he scored against RCD Mallorca. He quickly went on to become a key member of Louis van Gaal's title winning team. Although he is most used as a central midfielder, he is also capable of playing as a defensive midfielder. Xavi is considered the successor to Josep Guardiola, and since the title-winning season of 2004/2005, he has been a vice-captain of the team. Xavi is under contract to Barça until 2014, after extending his contract during the 2008-09 season. The new contract will make him one of the club's highest paid players with earnings of €7.5 million a year. Xavi ranks second in the all-time appearances list for Barcelona in his tenth season at the club.
International CareerXavi won his first Spanish cap on November 15, 2000 against the Netherlands and has since been a regular fixture in the Spanish squad. His trip to the 2006 World Cup was in doubt due to a knee ligament injury, but he recovered in time and was named as part of Luis Aragonés' squad. His importance to the team was summed up by Aragonés - "People say it is a gamble to take Xavi with us, but I say it would be a crazy gamble to leave him at home."During the Euro 2008, Xavi played a vital role in Spain's successful campaign. Partnering with Barça teammate Andrés Iniesta in the midfield he was the fulcrum between the defence and the forward line regularly supplying the strikers with vital passes and goalscoring chances. He scored the opening goal in the 50th minute in the semi-final against Russia, and in the final he put a well-timed pass through to Fernando Torres who slotted in the winning goal against Germany. He was selected as the Player of the Tournament by UEFA officials. Xavi was called up again for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers by new coach Vicente Del Bosque and
continued his good form from the Euro. Alongside team-mate Andrés Iniesta, he is sure to play a
crucial role for Spain in South Africa 2010.
Xavi in Action - Thoroughbred MagicInterview with XaviAdapted from El Mundo Deportivo before the Barça-Madrid Clásico on December 13 2008
On August 18, 1998, Xavi Hernández made his first appearance on the Spanish football scene. He was on holiday in Mallorca and Van Gaal called him up to make his debut for the Barcelona first team. Born in Terrassa in 1980, Xavi arrived at Barcelona at 11 years of age and is breaking all records. He was immediately seen as Guardiola's natural heir when the 'noi de Santpedor' - boy from Santpedor - moved to Brescia. Just before the Clásico against Madrid, Xavi is at a high point in his career - recognized as the best player in this year's European Championship and fifth in the standings for the most recent Ballon d'Or, he has an impressive résumé: an Under-20 World Cup, the last Euro-Cup and a Silver Medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics with the Spanish national team, as well as a European cup, three Liga titles and two Super Cups with Barcelona, with whom he's renewed his contract until 2014.
Interviewer: You must be feeling good about yourself at the moment. Xavi: Well, I play for Barça and I've won three Ligas, a Champions League and two Spanish Super Cups. Sometimes I think that's not very much, but I made it through the bad times - those disastrous years, didn't I? They were terrible at every level and they did absolutely nothing for my CV.
Q. So you tell us what your secret is.
Xavi: Quite simply, the joy of playing football, a talent that God gave me . . . I don't know! Honestly, playing football is all about give and take. My game is dependent on my teammates. I'm no-one if nobody passes me the ball . . . Without the lads on the team, my football makes no sense. And when I play with the best, my game takes shape. If I turn round and there's no-one to pass to, what do you expect me to do?
Q. Where did you learn to play the way you do then?
Xavi: At Can Barça . . . They told me that if I wanted to play in midfield, I wasn't allowed to lose the ball and since I'm a responsible bloke, I just learned how to keep it. And I like that! What I like the most about football is having the ball. Or that one of my teammates has it. I enjoy it when we play the ball. . . Ta! Ta! Ta! . . . a triangle and a one two.
Q. In other words, the football Spain played in the European Championships? Xavi: In other words, Cruyff's football. Okay, I'm not saying that it's a style of football invented by Cruyff, just that I learned it from him. He filled the midfield with people, with triangles, with one-touch passing, with support, with position. The whole idea of looking up before receiving the ball - I've learned everything at Barça. I'm just a pupil at the Barça school of football . . . nothing more than that.
Q. You weren't the best as a youngster, though, were you?
A. Mario Rosas was the really talented one - he was the best of my generation along with Iván de la Peña . . . No, I take that back, he was better than Iván. Mario is the best footballer I've ever seen play at youth level. He came up with us, but didn't stay the course. It's not easy, you know. I've been lucky and when I think of him, I'm more convinced of how lucky I've been.He's playing with Castellón now and he's made a living that way, but he ought to be here with us. Football isn't that easy.
Q. Watching you play, it looks like it is . . .
A. Not really, it depends on a lot of things. Look, I'll give you an example.
Q. Fire away.
A. I'm completely sick of being asked about whether we'll thrash Madrid or not, about whether there's a pact between us not to put five away against them . . . First of all, we've got to beat them and then we'll see by how much. Por favor! Do you think, that scoring four against Valencia was easy? With all due respect, Madrid can come here - we're ready for them! But it's more than just talking about a thrashing them. What we want to do is win because of the points but also because it's Madrid.
Q. Watching you play it's only logical that people get excited.
A. I think that's fine, but let's not get carried away. It's about beating them, and after that we'll talk. Everybody's getting too excited. Remember that last year Madrid beat us in both matches.
Q. At the Bernabéu, first you had to receive them with the Champion's Guard of Honour and then you got beaten. You personally ended up getting kicked to pieces.
A. Don't remind me! What a night! I played dreadfully . . . they were all over us and we got upset. We'd just lost the Liga and that day made it clear to us that it was time to turn over a new leaf.
Q. But Madrid have lost the thread now and even Iker might be on the substitute's bench. A. Don't believe it at all - he'll be playing. There's no sense in even thinking the contrary. Why wouldn't Iker play? It's like questioning Raúl. How ridiculous! I've got total respect for Raúl - he's the greatest footballer in the history of Spanish football. He's still Madrid's point of reference, because he guides the team better than anyone else.
Q. Is the arrival of Juande dangerous for Barcelona?
A. Juande will give them order - they've been a little aimless on the pitch. Madrid control their games very badly but they have a lot of drive. We play much more as a team than they do.
Q. Does Barça play better without the ball than Madrid does?
A. Possibly. You always have to keep playing even when you've not got the ball. To begin with because if they've got the ball, you've got to take off them. And if we have it, only one player has it, so the rest of the players have to be in position, opening up spaces, getting ready for the pass so that the ball can keep circulating or get pushed into an open space - just like Messi did the other day against Valencia. Van Gaal used to ask us to do that a lot – and he was right.
Q. What has Guardiola brought to the team? A. You have no idea how much I'm enjoying having him as coach. Maybe I'm wrong, but the most important thing that he's given the team is the sense of order that we were missing.
Q. In the dressing room or the pitch?
A. Defensive order. In the set pieces, the corners, the throw-ins.
Q. Throw-ins?
A. Of course. Every time the opponent takes a throw in, we all have a position to take and we don't leave it. This Barça is very well worked out - it's not down to chance. You don't know how hard Pep works us. He controls all the tactics, especially defensively. And it has to be that way, because the way things are, the moment you relax, your opponent can mess up your plans. That's why the other sides don't really get many chances and we have so many. Our football isn't luck - it's the result of the ideas that Pep learned at the Masia and it's all down to lots of hard work.
Q. That's easy to say that when you play with Messi, Eto'o . . .
A. Talent is necessary and it stands out, but this team's got just as much order as it's got talent. If you haven't got that, it doesn't work. Q. Maybe that's what Madrid is missing - a sense of order. A. I don't know and I don't really care. What I care about is that Barcelona does well. That's what we have to worry about - we have to keep working, stay humble, be prudent and remember that everything comes at a price – there's no such thing as a free lunch. If we start thinking it's in the bag, we're screwed. We mustn't forget that - no matter how good the feelings are - we haven't won anything yet. You never get tired of winning, but losing drives you nuts. The moment you stop wanting to go to the training session, you see what happens - nothing. When things are going well, it translates into action on the pitch. And that's the change that's taken place within the team.
Q. Is it the coach or something else?
A. The dressing room is very happy with this coach. Pep's earned his place. Whoever says that he didn't have enough experience can go hang himself. He doesn't know how great he is. He spent twelve years of his playing career here and he's intelligent. And that's what comes first, because if he weren't as smart. . . Others have been here for 15 years and they didn't have a clue. But he's like a sponge. And now it's like he's wringing out all the water and the team just soaks it all up.
Q. He shouts at you a lot, doesn't he?
A. No, he's never yelled at me really. Well, during the matches he shouts a lot at me, because he warning me. He tells me that HIS pivot is out of position. He also tells the other guys one thing or another . . . But you know what? Pep and I see football through the same eyes. We're on the same wavelength. The Result 13/12/08 FC Barcelona 2-0 Real Madrid
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