Xavi Hernández

[Jamie Cal]

Bring him back tbh

he can be our jermaine defoe

'spanish defoe'

 

[xXKonan]

[tw]649274403746881536[/tw]

 

[Galning]

what an honor.

 

[raki]

What a waste for him...Should have gone to the States.

 

[JamDav1982]

What a waste for him...Should have gone to the States.

Dont think it is much of a waste really.

Seems like he has basically retired and is living somewhere with no pressure getting paid a fortune to do it while his family are all getting good money also.

 

[Barcafan 2304]

Miss him and how we could do with him now

 

[Mido]

Miss him and how we could do with him now

Was thinking exactly the same in the Vigo and Leverkusen games..

 

[Devils]

I know he doesn't owe us anything, but FFS we could desperately use his help. He could put his talents to far better use at Barca than that joke of a league.

It's not even a retirement league for Xavi, it's a sunday recreational league. It's not even a challenge for him.

 

[KingMessi]

Let's buy him back in the winter.

 

[El Flaco]

A website named www.sc.qa, had a in-depth interview with Xavi during the last week and earlier in September.
Here's the first of a three-part interview.

Let’s begin in the place where it all started for you, in the Plaza del Progreso in Terrassa. What was your first memory of kicking the ball?

Ever since my first memories I have been following the ball. My family, my grandfather was from a football background. My father was a professional football player, and then a coach. My brothers Alex and Oscar played football, and at home everyone breathed an atmosphere of total football. From there on I went after the ball, I started playing in the school in Jaba in Terrassa. In the Plaza del Progreso in my free time from school and weekends, and from there on my father founded the football school in Terrassa, and we went with my brothers to play there.

Who was your first great idol as a kid?

The first time I went to the Camp Nou was for a Gamper Trophy with all of the family. My father and grandfather took us, and I fell in love with Bernd Schuster. He was quite different, he was the blonde, that player in midfield who switched the side of the ball. He would play a long ball of 30 or 40 meters which you practically didn’t see in football, and his game captivated me. After that, when I was training with Barcelona and more conscious of the style, as an 11 or 12 year old, the coaches of the Casa Joan Vilà, and Albert Benages told me to look at Pep Guardiola. How he chose whether to play with one touch or two, without a pause. Pep and Guillermo Amor were references for all the new generations who were entering the first team.

So we could say your first inspiration was the German school of football?

Yes, imagine that. The first player I looked up to was German. Perhaps because of that blonde hair, I was captivated by his football and his personality.

Now you are inspiring a new generation of youngsters in Qatar and the region. Is the round ball what unites us all in the end?

Yes, of course. Football is worldwide, it is universal. I think the majority or great parts of societies in any country like football. It unites. It is a tool to bring people together for any society in any place in this world. You come to Qatar and see the respect that people have for me here, that they ask me for autographs, that my team-mates and everyone respects me so much. The fact that you played for Barça, you won trophies there, everyone here reminds you of those matches; the final of the World Cup, of the Euros, even the Champions League. Football is universal, and everyone likes it. And here they follow the Spanish league in a very, very strong way, they like it a lot.

What impressions have you been able to gather so far of football in Qatar?

I have seen games of the Under 17 team, of the National Team, and we have looked at individual players. What I see is that there is talent. They have done a great job over the past three, four years in Aspire Academy. We see players who have great education, knowledge and concepts which are very good to understand and play football, and from there it is about perfecting them. I think Qatar has football players who can be great professionals and who have a lot of talent, even though it is a small population.

Talking about these players who have been through the youth set-up here must have brought back memories of your own time in Barcelona’s famous La Masia. How was your first day there as an eleven-year-old?

I was very nervous, my family have been for Barça all of our lives. When my father said that I had signed for Barcelona it was a sensation of your heart beating at 200 kilometres per hour. From there I tried to learn, to enjoy it, to learn from everything going on in the school and on the pitch. It was a school of life and of football. I have learned everything in the school of Barcelona. I am proud to be from Barcelona and of everything that I achieved there.

Source

 

[El Flaco]

Part 2

Xavi, you epitomise the home-grown era of success at Barcelona. How was it growing up in the club alongside what would later become the golden generation?

Everyone who came to Barcelona knew exactly what the concept of the game was - that famous Barcelona DNA which everyone took on board. And from there years and years passed and a new, fantastic generation arrived with players like Puyol, Iniesta, Messi, Busquets, Pedro. Players from different generations, who have put themselves together to win incredible things, which we never could have imagined in the eighties or nineties. And now Barcelona is a model in world football. The same has been the case with the Spanish national team, which has drawn a lot from the Barcelona style. This style has marked an era in Spanish and European football.

Now, working with Aspire Academy, do you see parallels with how talent development is being pushed forward in Qatar?

Yes, in the philosophy to attack, to be protagonists, in the methodical approach to football. I think here there is a great education for a football player, to be professional and to improve.

Let’s talk about your debut with Barcelona, and winning the Spanish league in your first season. How difficult and how rewarding was that experience, and what advice do you have for youngsters attempting to make the same step up in their career?

Yes, it was difficult, because all new beginnings are very difficult. But I had the good luck that I was very well received in the dressing room, there were a lot of people from home, and we won the league. I have fantastic memories of Van Gaal, for example. A very good season even though we did not begin it well. Afterwards we went through a period of four or five years without winning anything, where people did not believe in us, and especially in me because the system was changing a lot. But we were able to get through that bad period to get to an era that was for me the best in Barcelona’s history.

The U-20 FIFA World Cup in Nigeria was the first international title which you won as a player. Do you think that was where Spain really started to believe in the incredible success that would come later on.

Yes, perhaps it was a turning point. I remember that it was the time of the Bosman ruling and club directors and presidents were going abroad to sign, a new market was opening in Europe. But winning that tournament was a sign that there were good young players in Spain. We won the final 4-0 against Japan and even beat the Brazil of Ronaldinho. We placed an exclamation mark to show that there was also a good young generation in Spain that could achieve big things. Later three or four of those players went on to lead Spain to the consecutive European and World titles that we won.

Pep Guardiola also played in Qatar. You started at his side in the dressing room, and later he went on to become your coach in the most successful Barcelona team of all time. How important an influence has he been?

For my career Pep has been a model in every sense of the word. First as a football player to perfect my game. He was an example and a mirror for all of those who were coming up through the ranks. Later as a coach he gave me absolute importance in the game. We talk the same football language, because we grew up in the same house and we understand the game in the same way. He is one of the best coaches in the world. He is very methodical, very demanding, a perfectionist, and that makes him one of the best.

How do you see his Bayern side now – has Guardiola made them a copy of that successful Barcelona side?

Yes, I think he has achieved that, Bayern also has been playing good football for years. The German team of Joachim Loew does the same, and they have had a good reference in Spain in terms of playing good football. The German physical condition is always impressive. And from there, I think Pep is working very well, and every year they are favourites to win the Champions League with Barcelona, Madrid, and the big teams of Europe. Bayern will always be there. They have signed very well, with Arturo Vidal, Douglas Costa, on top of what they had.

Now you are the star signing of Al Sadd Club, and starting a new stage and a new challenge in your career this weekend with the first match in the Qatar Stars League. When you lead out your team on Sunday at Al Arabi Stadium, will you do so with a lot of expectations, excitement, even nerves?

Yes, I am looking forward to it a lot. I have been getting to know my team-mates and I have seen the quality of play has been higher than I expected. I have seen really interesting football players with a lot of talent. I think we are working well. We have been training for one and a half months now and we have a good team. But there are important teams, like last year’s champions Lekhwiya, and Al Rayyan, who have signed very well. It will not be easy to win it, but it is one of our objectives, as well as to win the Emir’s Cup and to fight for the Asian Champions League. As we have seen in the pre-season, the teams from Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also very strong and well-prepared. But I have big objectives, and a lot of excitement to begin the league and to compete again.

Source

 

[El Flaco]

Part 3

What was your first ever memory of watching a World Cup?

I can remember, though I don’t know if the memories are from the actual time or later on, the mascot from the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Naranjito. Then I remember Diego Maradona, in the 1986 World Cup, I was six years old by that point, with the famous Hand of God. I remember that incredible goal he scored against England, which went down in history, the success of the Argentina national team and Maradona.

I’d never seen a World Cup match in person. Not until I played in one. But I’ve watched the vast majority of them on TV, even the World Cup in the United States, which was shown at three or four in the morning in Spain. All of us would get up, my family, my brothers and sister, to watch the games. I followed every World Cup, all of them. Football is my life, my passion, and I love watching it.

The World Cup in South Africa was the first on the African continent and the first Spain won. You were an influential member of that team. How did you help your country to that historic success?

We didn’t start the World Cup well. We lost to Switzerland, which made us hesitate a little. We were nervous and more tense than usual. The team stuck to its guns, though, even if we didn't play well until maybe the Portugal game. We played well against Portugal in the last 16, and that’s when we started seeing Spain perform.

We really had to fight against Paraguay in the quarter-final, but then we played a great game in the semis and we played well against the Netherlands in the Final too. To some extent we built on the success we’d had in the European Championships. We had a winning mentality. We believed we could beat anyone and we felt invincible out on the pitch. I think we had a great World Cup, even if we didn’t start too well.

Now the first World Cup in the Middle East is just seven years away. You have had the chance to see the plans and progress that Qatar is making towards that tournament. How do you see the development here?

I’m excited about it all. About being involved in this project, about coming here with my family to work, because it’s a genuinely marvelous project for this country, for Qatar. I think it has the infrastructure to host a historic World Cup. We’ve been shown the future stadiums and they’re going to be wonderful.

Everything’s going to be very close together. That’s spectacular for the fans, because they’re going to be able to see a match and then, a couple of hours later, see another 10 minutes away. That’s fantastic, that’s truly fantastic, being able to say “look, one game’s finished, another’s now starting”. Even more so when the best teams on the planet are involved. For players too it’s going to be interesting not having to travel, being able to stay in the same hotel throughout. There really are some very good advantages.

Having gone all the way to the title in the first edition on the African continent, do you think every region of the world should get a chance to host this event?

This is the first Arab country that’s going to host a World Cup. I think that football is universal, is global, and an Arab country has earned the right to host a World Cup. The passion felt for football here is incredible. People follow the Spanish league really closely, but they watch everything, everything. They’re football followers, they’re fanatical about it and they truly deserve to host it.

Qatar is off to a good start in qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. How do you see the team and their chances for qualification?

Yes, I think that they can qualify, though it won’t be easy because in Asia there are major nations, big teams, but they should get through the group they’re in now. Let’s see the other group, who they’re drawn with next, but I think Qatar have the talent to be able to reach Russia.

It’s one of their goals and, somehow, I’m going to help them in every way I can to achieve that experience, that objective. Let’s see with those games coming up, how they approach them, but I think they’ve got a chance of qualifying.

And finally, with that outstanding football mind which you possess, it must be a logical step that you would also become an outstanding coach…

I like the pitch, being close to the actual football, what happens in the game itself. I'm going to learn the trade – I've already started my education here at the Aspire Academy. I'm following Spanish football from over here while I'm still playing, and I'm really enjoying myself. After that, I don't know what the future will hold for me, but of course I'd like to return to Barça one day. That's my aim and the closer it is to the pitch, the better.

Source

 

[Stric]

Only glanced through it, but that last quote made me smile. I'm glad to see him openly talk about wanting that job. Hope to see you soon, maestro.

 

[Barcaman]

Cheers Flaco.
He still sounds very much passionate about football. That makes the "retirement" claims void.

 

[ManusXavi]

Re-watched Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona April 2010 at the Bernabeu today on Barca gamepass.
These are Xavi's highlights. No words needed.

Comments for this game are on pages 55-59 of this thread.
At 1 min 40 seconds Xavi makes a pass directly between 2 players and it rolls over the sideline. He seems to have expected Pedro to run to a spot. Pedro didn't. . . .
Why am I mentioning this? I can't imagine I'm the only one who would be amused by this. . . . . .and that amusement displays just how good and Consistent Xavi was in his prime seasons.