The Pass Maestro - Xavi Hernandez

It was an emotional week for not just Barca fan, but football fans who had to bid adieu to undoubtedly the greatest midfielder of our generation, Xavi Hernandez. 

Xavi lifting CL for the final time.

The greatest player Spain has ever produced left the game in style, winning the Champions League with his boyhood club FC Barcelona. He joined the famous youth academy of Barcelona, La Masia, on 1991. But for several years in the senior team he failed to become a regular in midfield position. The club even considered selling him to Manchester United and AC Milan.  

It was only when the Dutch coach, Frank Rijkaard signed Edgar Davids in 2004, and pushed Xavi in a more attacking role that Xavi found his métier and became the focal point of Spain and Barcelona. 

Still, he was not considered a great player or important player even after cementing his place in Barcelona. The press in Spain treated him like an insignificant member. In a recent interview he said “people only discovered me in Euro 2008” when Spain won the first of two UEFA European Championship. “If I leaf through papers from years gone by,” he said, “it makes me laugh: they said I was obsolete, that Edgar Davids made me look good, that I only moved the ball from side to side. They called me ‘the windscreen wiper’.”  

Xavi posing with all the trophies, we can add another CL to that list.

The Pass Maestro

One of the biggest impacts Xavi has made on the game has been to overcome the mindset of strong, hulking men like Roy Keane, Patrick Viera can only dominate midfield. He is just 5ft 7in, a small man, among a collection of small men in Barcelona.  

Three players who revolutionized football.

Xavi made it acceptable to use shrewdness instead of Strength to make space.  He moved the ball so quickly that other players couldn’t get the ball. He was quick even when he didn’t have the ball, moving quickly to stop spaces for other team to exploit and getting the ball back.  

Amazing stat of Xavi's passing. Courtesy of Opta.

Few players have his bearing. He goes about the pitch, ball at his feet, with his head tilt, and scouting for a player and spaces like a periscope. In a interview in 2001 he said “[You need to] think quickly, look for spaces. That’s what I do: Look for spaces. All day, I’m always looking. Here? No. There? No. People who haven’t played don’t realize how hard that is. Space, space, space. It’s like being on the PlayStation, I think sh*t, the defender’s here, play it there. I see the space and pass. That’s what I do.” 

Perhaps Sir Alex summed it up perfectly about Xavi’s passing when saying “I’m sure I saw him give the ball away once”.

At the peak, Xavi controlled every game he was part of. So it was no surprise when Spain crashed out of World Cup 14 as it was around the time Xavi's game was declining, simply incapable of dominating the game the way he used to in his peak for 90 mins. 

As the curtain closes on Xavi's illustrious career, anybody who has witnessed the great Barca side of last 10 years, should realize how integral he was for them, and the game itself. 

The Spain team and Barcelona side will be remembered long after Xavi leaves, but he should be remembered as the central figure and The symbol of Tiki-Taka and one of the greatest orchestrator the world has ever seen.