Xavi Hernandez | Football’s Greatest Conductor

There has been none more important than Xavi when we consider the dominance of Barcelona and Spain

It is fair to say that above all else this has been the season of departures and retirements. At Christmas we saw the end of Thierry Henry’s career, and have been graced by his presence on Sky Sports since. In the past few weeks we have seen the tributes to players like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lamaprd, who while not officially retiring from the game, are looking to end their final playing days in the MLS. These two players represent the Premier League and English football in the 21^st century, their departures from the league is hugely significant. These are icons of the game, especially in England. 

In Italy Andrea Pirlo has announced he will leave Juve after the Champions League final, aiming to end his time in Turin with a treble. His time in Juve has yielded four consecutive league titles, not bad for a player deemed surplus to requirements at Milan. Pirlo like Gerrard and Lampard have been consistent key players in the elite levels of the game this past decade. Chelsea’s rise to the elite brought out the best in Lampard who became one of Europe’s best, if not the best, goalscoring midfielder. Gerrard’s energy and impact on games for Liverpool brought two Champions League finals against Pirlo’s Milan side, with the historic Istanbul final, a decade ago, still seen as his finest night. 

These players have been a massive part of football in the 21^st century and in some ways they have moulded and shaped the game. Lampard and Gerrard changed how the number ‘10’ type player played the game, no longer the playmaker and ‘artist’ but a goalscorer, and both excelled in this more athletic type role. 

Pirlo was moved deeper as a player, from the classic ‘10’ to the deep lying playmaker role and he excelled. His class, elegance, technical brilliance and vision made him one of the best passers and playmakers in the game. His success at Milan and with Italy in 2006 in no small part down to him and his influence. 

All three were at their very best a decade ago, and still in their 30’s have shown to still have the quality, all different in their own way, but still important for their respective sides. However, for all these three men’s quality and influence, there is one man who sits above all three, one man who has taken the game to new levels, has being part, or even led the evolution of the game. That man is Xavi Hernandez.

Xavi was 28 years old before he became ‘recognised’. The year was 2008, a hugely important year for football’s evolution. Xavi had won the best player award at the 2008 Euro’s, where Spain would win their first major international trophy for 44 years with a 1-0 win against Germany in the final. 

Throughout the tournament there was a growing sense that something special was on show with Spain, a country which for many years had been guilty of complacency and choking in major tournaments, appeared to look assured, confident and dominant in their play. A midfield of Xavi and Andres Iniesta played football with elegance and beauty, the ball was kept, touched and moved with such love and affection. 

To have overcome Germany was significant also, notably for their star man Michael Ballack. Ballack epitomised the game of that time, strong, athletic and powerful. He was currently at Chelsea, a team which had become a key player in Europe with players like Essien, Lampard and Ballack in their midfield, and Drogba up front. It was a powerful team for a powerful game. 

The Champions League that year was contested between Man Utd and Chelsea, signifying the dominance of English clubs in Europe at that time (this was fourth time in a row an English club had reached the final). And the Premier League was about strength, speed and athleticism, a recipe for success in Europe at that time it seemed. 

Of course there was an anomaly in this period, and that was Barcelona. In 2006 they had overcome Arsenal to win 2-1 to lift the Champions League with Ronaldinho a key part of that side. However two years later and the team seemed to have lost its focus and drive. There was a sense that if you were to put your money on any ‘type’ of football thriving in the coming years then it would be built on power, more than technique. 

Well, that 2008 final was a key moment in the game, that win not only signified Spain’s ability to win, something questioned for many decades, but the manner of their performances all through the competition pointed to a way of playing which wasn’t akin to what was ‘succeeding’ at that time in Europe. Luis Aragones, then coach of Spain had decided to alter the teams style during the qualification period, he believed that based on the ‘type’ of player Spanish was producing, a style which suited their game was necessary. This seems obvious of course yet many fail to recognise what their players strengths are over their own beliefs as a coach. 

Aragones not only brought success to Spain, but his decision became a catalyst for the rise of Spain and Barcelona and revolution in the game. The fact Xavi won that award was hugely significant, and credit must go to UEFA’s technical panel for seeing in Xavi why Spain were so effective. This player dictated the game, controlled the tempo and like a grand chess master tactically manoeuvred his team on the pitch to find holes and punish the opposition. Watching was seeing a genius at work, it was subtle, no thrills, no fireworks, just tireless movement of himself and the ball. It was like poetry. And it had been ‘seen’. 

Yes Torres scored the winner, yes David Villa finished top scorer, but it was Xavi’s influence on the team which distinguished him. At 28 years old Xavi Hernandez was now recognised!

Now of course it is disingenuous to make out that 2008 was when it all clicked in place for Xavi. This was a player who had been a key part of Barcelona after coming through the youth academy and making his debut in 1998. He had been key in the clubs resurgence from 2003-2006 when Barcelona rose to become the best side in Europe. And while Ronaldinho, Eto’o and Deco were getting the plaudits, Xavi was the engine room in midfield, not breaking up play like a Makelele, but controlling the game, orchestrating and supplying balls to the forwards. Without him Barca would not have achieved what they did. And he was only getting better. 

2008 signified a beautiful convergence between Xavi, the experienced orchestrator, a Spain side playing the type of football which suited him best, allied with a team of talented players who had come through the youth system ready to take on the world.

The need to be valued, to be given the keys to the team

And what would make this situation greater? The arrival of Pep Guardiola. Xavi would talk with Guardiola while B team coach during 2007-08 about the issues and lack of focus in the group under Frank Rijkaard, who had seemingly allowed discipline to drop. Barca were a mess and they needed someone new to sort them out. 

There was talk of Jose Mourinho arriving, a decision may have brought trophies but which surely would have affected the fabric of the clubs ethos. One only had to look at Chelsea at that time and see what his style and approach was, not to say it was wrong, but surely in keeping with Cruyff’s vision laid down twenty years prior? Barcelona needed one of their own, someone who knew the club, its values and its philosophy. Guardiola was perfect.

Now there was talk of a major clearout of players in 2008, a sense of starting again and having the new coach having a younger and more energised group to work with. Xavi was one reportedly seen as expendable. Guardiola was incensed, he guaranteed to Xavi he would be going nowhere and instead vowed that Xavi would be the key to his vision and the teams style. And so it proved. 

Barcelona would have an historic season winning the treble, yet it was not just the success but the way they won. This was football from another world. Attacking play which was just mesmerising, possession football not seen before. The ball circulation, the intricate passing sequences, the control of the games. We were witnessing something ‘new’ before our eyes. And the man in the middle, the coach on the pitch, the orchestrator, was Xavi. He was Guardiola’s mouth on the pitch, he knew what his coach and what the game required. 

Under coach and player Barcelona would soar to heights perhaps never seen before, their 2010-11 season being perhaps the greatest team ever seen in the game. And Spain would thrive also, under Del Bosque they would win the 2010 World Cup and 2012 Euro’s, embracing the ethos of Guardiola’s Barca and building on the work of Aragones before him. 

This was a team and nation showing the value of foundations laid down decades before in terms of coach development, player development and embracing football which was in line with their culture and beliefs. It was the perfect storm of all those things culminating together to produce a great team filled with great players. And at the eye of this storm, the one who made it all click together, was Xavi Hernandez. 

The truth it is hard to know if Barca or Spain would have achieved what they did had Xavi not been the focal point of that team. Had another coach chose ‘another’ way there is a sense that while success may have come, the game would never have been influenced as much as it was with Xavi at the helm. And what a revolution it was. 

The game changed markedly from 2008 to what it was a decade before. The Spanish style, along the skills and talent of a Lionel Messi shaped the game, both at senior and youth level. Younger coaches like Villas-Boas, Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers were seeking to have their sides play in this Barcelona-like way, Roman Abramovich was seeking to make Chelsea play “beautiful” football like Barca also. Coaches of young sides now wanted to play like Barca (a problem however as they mis-understood what was required and many games ended up being ‘pass, pass, pass’ type scenarios – but still, the positive influence on coaches and parents as well as kids was pleasing). It seemed everyone wanted to be Barca. You started to see kids all over the place wearing Barca shirts, it had become a revolution, Barca had captured the imaginations of people everywhere. 

And while Messi and Iniesta seemed to generate the headlines - and rightly so - but it was Xavi who characterised what this team was about; control and space. Master these two and you could succeed. Regardless of size if you could master the ball, move into space and control the game, you could dominate. It was intelligent football, it wasn’t just passing for passing sake, it was calculated, smart and purposeful. 

As teams started to counter this style the passes increased to try and find spaces which opponents were closing off more effectively. The chess battle became intense and enthralling. Football started to become a battle between styles. Barca had mastered a style of football so superbly and intricately that teams simply could not match it, sure they could try to replicate, but there was a sense that this was the purest form you could find, and it would be near impossible to re-create. Embracing a counter style seemed the only way. 

Other sides saw Barca play, could show videos and practice what they did on the training pitch, but this was football on show which had been meticulously practiced for years. This was a school of football whose graduates who had played together every day for years who were now playing together at the peak of their powers and playing the game at such a speed, thinking at such a speed, that replication seemed futile. 

By 2012 it seemed the wheels were starting to fall off and dizzying heights of greatness were now become downwards slopes, however as we now come to the end of the 2014/15 season we have Barcelona in pursuit of another treble, under the stewardship of another former player in his first season at the club. In fact if Barca win one more trophy (two are available – Champions League and Copa Del Rey) then Xavi will become the most decorated player in Spanish football with 24 (or 25) major trophies for Barcelona. What a feat! And what a way to end his time at the club.

His success is as clear an indication of the importance of this player during Barcelona’s recent history. This has been the ‘constant’ during times of coaching changes and player movement. While the van Gaal’s, Rijkaard’s and Guardiola’s can offer their ideas, while Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Henry and Messi can all be the key player in the side at one point in time, there is this sense that Xavi has been the glue keeping it all together for over 15 years. 

There is a sense that without him Barcelona would not have won as much, and especially would not have won I the manner they have. Xavi has been synonymous with the Barcelona we know and regard so highly. He has orchestrated a style which has brought success and changed the way football has been viewed. He has been a true revolutionary in terms of midfield play. 

Of all those greats who are moving out of Europe to new pastures, there is none who has done as much in shaping the modern game as Xavi has. He deserves to be spoken of in the same way past greats have been regarded. Perhaps he will never get the kind of recognition his influence has deserved, you see his influence can always be recognised by stats (although his passing rates and completion numbers are startling), no Xavi’s influence counts for more, he has orchestrated one of the greatest football stories in the history of the game, like a great conductor he should be remembered for putting on one of the greatest performances the game has been witness to. 

The Whitehouse Address @The_W_Address