Xavi "Hernández Creus"

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Xavi ("Xavi" Hernández Creus)

 Xavier "Xavi" Hernández Creus (born 15 January 1980), is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona, and the Spanish national team. Xavi came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at the age of 11. He made his first-team debut in 18 August 1998. Since then he has played 697 matches, scored 78 goals and made more than 180 assists for over 50 players. Xavi is the first player in the FC Barcelona's history to play 150 international matches.

 He was an integral part of the sextuple-winning Barcelona side in 2009, the only time which a club has achieved six titles in a year.

Since making his international debut in 2000, he has been capped 117 times for the Spanish national team, with whom he won UEFA Euro 2008,2010 World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2012. He was named Player of the Tournament by UEFA at UEFA Euro 2008. Xavi has won more trophies than any other Spanish player. Xavi has received five Ballon d'Or nominations, and finished on third place in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Early life

Born in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia, Xavi is a product of Barcelona's La Masia youth system and has been a regular at Camp Nou since the age of 11. His father, Joaquim, was a former player for Sabadell in the first division.  Xavi 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.

Club career

Barcelona

1998–2001

His progression through the teams earned him a first team substitute appearance in a friendly match against Southampton on 12 May 1998 and he made his competitive 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 10th in the league. Sustained impressive performance meant that he became a key member of Louis van Gaal's title-winning team. Xavi finished his debut season with 26 matches played and winning the Spanish League. He also was named 1999 La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year.

Xavi became Barcelona's principal playmaker, after an injury to Pep Guardiola in the 1999–00 season.

2001–2003

In these years FC Barcelona was on the verge of bankruptcy and struggling to keep its place in the elite of Spanish league. With the generation of Cocu, Rivaldo, Kluivert and his young teammatePuyol, Xavi would become one of the players ready to rule the world. Playing in the midfield, but with more defensive role, Xavi made 20 assists and scored 7 goals in those two seasons. On 16 March 2002, Xavi scored his first goal in El Clasico.

2004–2008

He was named the vice-captain in the 2004–05 season and helping the Catalans to win Spanish League and Spanish Supercup.

Xavi was named La Liga Spanish Player of the Year in 2005.

In the 2005–06 season, Xavi tore the ligaments in his left knee in training; he was out of action for four months, missing a part of the season, but returned in April and was on the substitutes bench for the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final. He also won the Spanish League and Spanish Supercup again.

2008–09 season

He was a main part of Barcelona's treble and 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 games, one of the most significant 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). 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. 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 earned 29 assists overall that season.

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.

2009–10 season

During the 2009–10 season, journalists increasingly noted Xavi's contribution to the Barcelona side. For example:

"Quite simply the best midfielder of modern era. 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."

In the 2009–10 season, Xavi 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, the Madrid-based newspaper Marca awarded Xavi third place in the annual Trofeo Alfredo di Stéfano award for the best player in La Liga, behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

2010–11 season

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. On 29 November he scored his third goal against arch-rivals Real Madrid in a 5–0 home win. On 18 December he scored another goal against RCD Espanyol in a 1–5 win. In the Champions League, Xavi scored a valuable goal against English side Arsenal during a home match in the UEFA Champions League that saw Barcelona passing through to the quarter-finals with an assist by teammate David Villa.

He was one of the three finalists for the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or, alongside Barcelona teammates Messi and Andrés Iniesta. He finished third on the vote behind Messi and Iniesta.

He narrowly defeated Lionel Messi to win Player of the Year designation from World Soccer Magazine.

On 2 January 2011, in a league match against Levante UD, Xavi made his 549th appearance for the club in all competitions, matching the record held by Migueli. Following this match Xavi is the player with most appearances with Barcelona of all time.

2011–12 season

Xavi began the 2011–12 season in fine goalscoring form and seemed to grow in his influence of the team despite the long anticipated return of Cesc Fàbregas and the promotion of Thiago Alcântara to create added competition for places in Barca's star-studded midfield.

On 18 December, in the final of the Club World Cup (4-0 against Santos), Xavi scored a goal and made a perfect assist to Lionel Messi, after the ball was slightly behind him, Xavi brought the ball down with a cocked leg, effectively using his ankle to control it, before slipping a pass through to Messi, who scored the first goal.

Xavi scored the winning goal in the Group H game against Milan, a vital match for Barcelona's progression in the UEFA Champions League

International career

Xavi'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.

He played for the nation at the 2000 Olympics, 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012.

UEFA Euro 2008

Xavi was named Euro 2008's player of the tournament after Spain defeated Germany 1–0 in the final. Xavi was dominant in midfield, making tackles, shaping attacks and driving Spain to their first silverware since the 1964 European Championships.

"We have chosen Xavi because he epitomizes the Spanish style of play. He was influential in the whole possession, passing and penetrating kind of game that Spain played," said Andy Roxburgh head of UEFA's technical committee.

 Semi-finals – Russia v Spain (0–3)

Xavi scored the first goal of Spain in the semi-final against Russia. His goal had stunned the Russians.

 Final – Germany v Spain (0–1)

Xavi made a perfectly weighted ball, rolled towards the German area, from which Torres scored the final winning goal.

2010 World Cup

Xavi was named in Spain's squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, culminating in winning the World Cup title. The midfielder was a crucial player for Spain, finished with an 90 percent pass completion rate over the course of the tournament, completing 599 passes out of 669 passes attempted over all of Spain's seven games.

He was able to provide the most number of passes and he crossed the ball inside the 18 yard box more than any other player performing in that tournament. For example, in the final he made 57 accurate forward half passes. 

Xavi also covered a lot of distance on the pitch – 80.20 kilometres throughout the competitions, which average at approximately 11.5 kilometres per each game. In the final he covered a distance of almost 15 kilometres. 

 Round of 16 – Spain v Portugal (1–0)

After a backheel pass from Xavi Hernandez in the 63rd minute, David Villa had his shot with his left foot blocked by Eduardo, but then he put in the rebound with his right foot for the winning goal. 

 Semi-finals – Germany v Spain (0–1)

Xavi snaps the corner out to the edge of the six-yard box, where Puyol makes a header into the top-right corner.

UEFA Euro 2012

Xavi was again the key-player for the Spanish team, like the previous tournaments which Spain won. With the inspiration from Barcelona style of play, Xavi and his teammate, Iniesta, was the stars that leading the team for the third consecutive major title, a performance that no other national team did in history.

"Pum, pum, pum" - Xavi describes the sound of the ball moving between him and Iniesta. 

 Group C - Spain v Republic of Ireland (4-0)

Xavi made most passes attempted in a European Championship match: 136 (127 completed, 94% success rate). Previous record for most passes attempted had been set by Ronald Koeman at 117 in Euro 1992 match between Holland and Denmark. Xavi and Iniesta made 229 passes in this match, more than the combined Irish 11 managed.

 Final – Spain v Italy (4–0)

Xavi played for Spain at Euro 2012, which Spain won by defeating Italy in the final. With Xavi providing two assists in the final, one for Jordi Alba, and another one, like 4 years ago, for Fernando Torres, he became the first player to register assists in two European Cup finals.With his victory in UEFA Euro 2012, Xavi became the most successful player in Spanish Football History, a feat that he previously shared withCarles Puyol, who missed the entire tournament.

Honours

Barcelona

 La Liga: 1998–99, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11

 Copa del Rey: 2008–09, 2011–12; Runner-up 2010–11

 Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011; Runner-up 2012

 UEFA Champions League: 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11

 UEFA Super Cup: 2009, 2011; Runner-up 2006

 FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011; Runner-up 2006

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