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Blaugrana Bull
HiiiPoWeR
Weakest? His mind and confidence are stronger than those of other players.
Slowest? He thinks faster than everyone else. That is what matters most.
Shortest? Depends.
Slowest? He thinks faster than everyone else. That is what matters most.
Shortest? Depends.
Pepe Silvia
Active member
Xavi controlled the greatest era of Spanish and Barcelona teams (both in the conversation for best national and club teams all time) all in the same period and won back to back to back international titles in the process. He even made Pirlo his son in the 2012 Euro final. The choice is abundantly clear.
DonAndres
Wild Man of Borneo
Easy to split Pirlo and Xavi. Don't get me wrong, Pirlo is a great player. Near unparalleled vision and long passing, very graceful style.
The thing is, Xavi in his prime was on a whole other level of dominance and influence. He was everywhere on the pitch and controlling everything, the heartbeat of two teams that made history. His ball retention, movement, and passing range is on an entirely different level from other legend CM's like Scholes or Pirlo. Absolute domination in the 08/09 treble, the driving force behind all of the NT's title wins, and probably the most significant player of the greatest footballing system in history. Assisting in 2 CL finals, 2 Euro finals, dominated the WC, holds numerous assist/passing records, etc.
Spain has two absolutely world class central midfield talents right now in Thiago and Koke who will probably go on to the top of world football and mark an era the way many iconic players have done before. A prime Xavi combined the engine and movement of Koke and the sublime passing and vision of Thiago into one player. That's how significant of a player Xavi was, that it'll take the output of two players to mimic what he alone did.
Pirlo on the other hand is very static in comparison. He was easily marked out and suffocated by Bayern through Kroos/Muller/Mandzukic in their CL tie in 12/13 and he ended up with something like a 70% pass completion and an utterly muted performance. Same thing for Italy by Spain in Euro 2012. He knows how to pull the strings and create plays from deep positions but he doesn't dominate a game, not the way Xavi does.
Neeraj
Senior Member
Completely agree. I think Xavi is so far ahead of guys like Pirlo and Scholes, it really shouldn't even be a comparison..They are also rans when compared to the monster that is Xavi..The only midfielder I think who could end up surpassing him is the don...nobody else comes close..especially not scholes ..oh brother..
BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Press conference with English translator:
I
instinct
Guest
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Xavi.
F
Flavia
Guest
Xavi. The order is Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Busi.
Pepe Silvia
Active member
Xavi is a club and national LEGEND but he should be gone. He was part of the problem these last few seasons. All this he will mentor the youngsters is plain rubbish for me and I don't see him taking well to a lesser role at all. LE talks a big game about I'm the boss and Xavi better listen, but in the end I'm a skeptic because Tata came in and benched Messi and took apart the system then look what happened. I see Xavi's presence as more poisonous than anything. I know it sucks but I really think he should have bowed out like he did with NT.
I
instinct
Guest
^When did Tata bench Messi where it wasn't because of injury? (except the game vs Rayo Vallecano)
Pepe Silvia
Active member
Early in the season he subbed him is what I meant, flexing his authority. Messi didn't seem to like it either.
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