Xavi (footballer, born 1980)

Xavi
Personal information
Full name	Xavier Hernández Creus
Height	0.1 m (4 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Barcelona
Number	6
Youth career
1991–1997	Barcelona
Senior career*
Years	Team
1997–2000	Barcelona B
1998–	Barcelona
International career‡
1997	Spain U17
1997–1998	Spain U18
1999	Spain U20
1998–2001	Spain U21
2000	Spain U23
2000–	Spain
2000–	Catalonia
Medal record
Representing Spain
Men's Football
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 May 2010; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 September 2010

Template:Catalan name

Xavier Hernández Creus, commonly known as Xavi (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈʃaβi]) (born 25 January 1980 in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia) currently plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona. Widely considered among the finest play-makers in the world, Xavi was named the official Man of the match of the 2009 Champions League Final as he helped Barcelona defeat Manchester United to win their third Champions League-title. He was named Player of the Tournament by UEFA at UEFA Euro 2008^[2] and was one of the five finalists for the 2007–08 FIFA World Player of the Year. In all he has been capped 95 times for the Spanish national team, with whom he won the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He is regularly cited as one of the best midfielders currently playing.He regarularly sucks Cesc Fabregas^[3]

Club career

1998–2004

Xavi is a product of Barcelona's youth system and has been a regular at Camp Nou since the age of 11. 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 18 August 1998 in the Super Cup final, in which he scored against Mallorca. His début in La Liga came against Valencia on 3 October 1998 in a 3–1 victory for Barcelona. Initially featuring intermittently both for the reserve and senior teams, Xavi scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Real Valladolid when Barcelona were 10^th in the league, sparking a renaissance in form for the club. Sustained impressive performances quickly meant he becoma a key member of Louis van Gaal's title winning team. An injury to Pep Guardiola in the following La Liga 1999-00 season meant that Xavi became Barcelona's principal playmaker, a position he has retained ever since.

2004–2008

Since the title-winning season of 2004–05, he has been a vice-captain of the team. In the 2005–06 season, Xavi tore the ligaments in his left knee in training; he was out of action for five months, missing the majority of the playing season, but returned in April and was on the substitutes bench for the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final.

2008–present

The 2008–09 season was Xavi's best season so far, by performances and achievements. He was a main part of Barcelona's treble, performing with excellence in all three competitions: he scored the 4th goal in the 4–1 win in the Copa del Rey 2008–09 final against Athletic Bilbao, with a free kick.

In La Liga, among many fine performances, perhaps the most significant one is the 6–2 El Clásico victory vs Real Madrid on 2 May. He assisted 4 out of 6 goals (once to Puyol, once to Henry and twice to Messi), and this performance and this win definitively led to Barcelona winning the 2009 title.

Finally, Xavi helped Barcelona win the 2009 Champions League Final versus Manchester United, which ended 2–0, assisting the second goal by passing the ball to Leo Messi's header after 69 minutes and also nearly scored as his shot from just outside the penalty box hit the post. Xavi was voted "UEFA Champions League best midfielder" for his contribution during Barcelona's victorious 2008-09 UEFA Champions League campaign. Xavi was La Liga's highest assisting player with 20 assists. He was also the highest assisting player in the champions league with 7 assists.

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 biggest earners, and entitle him to €7.5 million a year.

Xavi equaled Carles Rexach in the all-time appearances list for Barcelona when he made his 452nd appearance in his 11th season at the club on 14 February 2009. He is now second only to Migueli, who made 548 appearances. He currently tops the La Liga assists table.

During the 2009–2010 season, journalists increasingly noted Xavi's contribution to the Barcelona side. For example:

"Quite simply the best midfielder in modern football, and one of the greatest 'centre' midfielders of all time. It could even be argued that Xavi and Lothar Matthaus are the two best in this position in history. World class for several years now, it is the past three seasons in particular where the 30-year-old has been untouchable. Xavi’s passing is up there with Michel Platini, he creates countless goals with genius through balls while virtually never relinquishing possession."^[3]

In the 2009-10 season, Xavi continued his excellent form from last season. He once again topped the assists table and provided both the assists in Barcelona's 2-0 victory against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. He was acclaimed the 2nd best player of Barcelona in a season-long voting as Barcelona won the league title with a record 99 points. On 3 June 2010, Spanish newspaper Marca awarded Xavi third place in the annual Trofeo Alfredo di Stéfano award for the best player in La Liga, behind only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.^[4]

On 9 June 2010, Xavi signed a new 4 year contract with the club, which may be automatically renewed up to 30 June 2016 based on number of games played.^[5]

International career

Xavi Hernandez's abilities on the football pitch have led his teams to numerous titles and placed him among the most decorated footballers of all time. The playmaker has won major international titles with Spain and FC Barcelona in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and the FIFA World Cup. His successes on the European stage are no less estimable, with his having won the UEFA European Football Championship and complementing this achievement by twice winning the UEFA Champions League. These combined achievements have made him a winner of Europe's major titles at both international and club level. Xavi is also a 5 time Liga BBVA Champion and was a prolific star player of the Barcelona side that won the famed unprecedented Spanish treble which culminated in a record 6 trophies in one calendar year.

Xavi's passing prowess is even more strong when he plays for Spain, as shown in EURO 2008 and FIFA WORLD CUP 2010. The Spanish National Team, now famed for its unique tiki-taka style of game is heavily reliant on Xavi's ball distribution from the centre of the pitch. He is thus nicknamed 'The General' for his commanding and orchestral performances in the matches.

EURO 2008

Xavi performed exceptionally in the entire tournament which Spain won. This ended a major trophy drought for Spain since 1964. Xavi provided the genius through-ball for Fernando Torres' goal which gave Spain a 1-0 victory in the final against Germany. Xavi was named the 'Man of the Tournament'.

World Cup 2010

During the summer of 2010, Xavi's brilliance as a pure playmaker was a key factor in Spain's successful campaign for their first ever World Cup title. The veteran midfielder finished with a stellar 81% percent pass completion rate over the course of the tournament, completing 544 passes out of 669 passes attempted over all of Spain's 7 games.^[6] The sheer volume of Xavi's passing was impressive: among all players, even those who reached the final or the 3rd place match, Xavi led the field in passes attempted, passes completed, corners attempted (47), corners completed (26), and deliveries in the penalty area (15).^[7] Xavi was the only player to have attempted over 600 passes in the tournament, and likewise the only one to have completed at least 500 passes. His total of 669 passes attempted was 104 more than the next most prolific passer in the World Cup that year, Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger. These numbers stand as a statistical testament to both Xavi's passing prowess and Spain's reliance on him to distribute the ball.

All-time club statistics

As of 16 October 2010^[8]^[9]

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Other ^[10]		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Barcelona B	1997–98	39	3	–		–		–		39	3
	1998–99	18	0	–		–		–		18	0
	1999–00	4	1	–		–		–		4	1
	Total	61	4	–		–		–		61	4
Barcelona	1998–99	17	1	2	0	6	0	1	1	26	2
	1999–00	24	0	4	1	10	1	0	0	38	2
	2000–01	20	2	7	0	9	0	–		36	2
	2001–02	35	4	1	0	16	0	–		52	4
	2002–03	29	2	1	0	14	1	–		44	3
	2003–04	36	4	6	0	7	1	–		49	5
	2004–05	36	3	1	0	8	0	–		45	3
	2005–06	16	1	0	0	4	0	2	0	22	1
	2006–07	35	3	7	2	7	0	5	1	54	6
	2007–08	35	7	7	1	12	1	–		54	9
	2008–09	35	6	5	1	14	3	–		54	10
	2009–10	34	3	3	2	11	1	5	1	53	7
	2010–11	6	1	0	0	3	0	1	0	10	1
	Total	358	36	44	7	121	8	14	3	537	54
Career totals		419	40	44	7	121	8	14	3	598	58

International appearances

As of 11 July 2010^[11]

National team	Season	Apps	Goals
Spain	2000–01	1	0
	2001–02	5	3
	2002–03	8	0
	2003–04	5	0
	2004–05	8	1
	2005–06	13	1
	2006–07	7	2
	2007–08	16	4
	2008–09	14	1
	2009–10	17	0
	2010–11	2	0
Total		96	8

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	March 26, 2005	Estadio El Helmántico, Salamanca, Spain	China	2–0	3-0	Friendly
2.	September 06, 2006	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	0–1	3-2	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
3.	October 11, 2006	Nueva Condomina, Murcia, Spain	Argentina	1–0	2-1	Friendly
4.	September 12, 2007	Estadio Carlos Tartiere, Oviedo, Spain	Latvia	1–0	2-0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
5.	November 21, 2007	Estadio Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain	Northern Ireland	1–0	1-0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
6.	June 04, 2008	Estadio El Sardinero, Santander, Spain	United States	1–0	1-0	Friendly
7.	June 26, 2008	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria	Russia	0-1	0-3	UEFA Euro 2008
8.	August 20, 2008	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark	Denmark	0–2	0-3	Friendly