Xavi Hernández

Xavier Hernández Creus, commonly known as Xavi (born 25 January 1980 in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia) is a Spanish football midfielder who currently plays for Spanish 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. In all he has been capped 98 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.

 

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 Second Division.

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 RCD Mallorca. His début in La Liga came against Valencia CF 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 become 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.

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 Lionel 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 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.

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 Spanndish treble, which culminated in a record 6 trophies, the sextuple, in one calendar year. [source : Xavi]

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