Xavier "Xavi" Hernández i Creus born 25 January 1980, is a Spanish footballer who plays for FC Barcelona as a central midfielder.
Xavi came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at the age of 11. He made his first-team debut against RCD Mallorca on 18 August 1998. Since then he has played 700 matches, scored 82 goals and made more than 180 assists for over 50 players. Xavi is the first player in FC Barcelona's history to play 150 international matches.The embodiment of tiki-taka style of play, Xavi is considered to be one of the greatest central midfielders of all time and among the best playmakers of his generation.
Xavi won the U-20 World Cup for Spain in 1999, and the Olympic Silver Medal at the 2000 Olympics. Since making his senior team debut in 2000, he has been capped 130 times for the Spanish national team, and has been seen as an influential figure in the team's tremendous success. He played an integral role in Spain's victory at the 2010 World Cup, as well as their successes at both Euro 2008 and Euro 2012. He had a 91% passing success rate at the 2010 World Cup and was named in the World Cup All-star Team. He was named Player of the Tournament by UEFA at Euro 2008. He was also named in the UEFA Euro Team of the Tournamentin 2008 as well as 2012. Playing for Barcelona, Xavi won the Man of the Match award in the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final.
Xavi has won more trophies (25) than any other Spanish player in history. He won the World Soccer Player of the Year award in 2010. Xavi has received five Ballon d'Or nominations, and finished in third place in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2011, he was runner up to Messi for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. He has been awarded the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker award for 4 years: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. Xavi has been included in the UEFA Team of the Year for 5 years (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), and has been voted into the FIFA World XI on 6 occasions: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. At Euro 2012, with his 2 assists in the Final, Xavi became the first player to register assists in 2 separate Euro finals, having set up the lone goal in the Final 4 years earlier. He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports in 2012. After the 2014 World Cup, Xavi announced his retirement from international football.
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 Josep Maria Gonzalvo's FC Barcelona B team that won promotion to the Second Division.
As a child, Xavi watched a lot of English football, and held midfielders John Barnes, Paul Gascoigne and Matt Le Tissier in high regard.
Club career
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 Barça's attacking midfield positions.
On 18 December, in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup Final in Yokohama, Japan, Barcelona won 4-0 against Santos as Xavi scored a goal and made an 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. In total, Xavi gave the best goalscoring return of his career in 2011/12 season with ten Liga goals, two in the Copa del Rey – which Barcelona won – and one in the FIFA Club World Cup final success.
2012–13 season
On 18 December 2012, it was announced that Barcelona renewed the contract of Xavi, extending it until 30 June 2016. Xavi scored a goal vs Real Madrid in the match that Barcelona won 3–2. Xavi was named into the FIFA World XI, along with teammates Dani Alves,Andrés Iniesta and Lionel Messi.
2013–14 season
On 16 January 2014, Xavi made his 700th appearance for the first team against Getafe CF in the Copa del Rey. In June 2014, it was announced that Xavi would be leaving the club. However, on 22 July, after talks with newly-appointed manager and former teammate Luis Enrique, Xavi decided to stay at Camp Nou for one more season.
International career
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, UEFA Euro 2012, 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
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 where his metronomic passing and reading of the game was pivotal to Spain's success, in addition to 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.
Final – Germany v Spain (0–1)
Xavi made a pass, rolled towards the German area, from which Fernando Torres scored the final winning goal.
2010 World Cup
Xavi was named in Spain's squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, with Spain eventually winning their first World Cup.
He provided the most number of accurate passes, 599 with a passing success rate of 91%, and he crossed the ball inside the 18-yard box more than any other player performing in the 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 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 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 crossed a corner out to the edge of the six-yard box, where Puyol made a header into the top-right corner.
UEFA Euro 2012
"Pum, pum, pum, pum" – Xavi describes the rhythmic sound of the ball constantly moving between himself and midfield partner Andrés 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 Championship 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.
Retirement
On 5 August 2014, following the 2014 FIFA World Cup where Spain were eliminated at the group stage, Xavi announced his retirement from international football having made 133 appearances for the national side in a 14-year period.
Spain's World Cup winning manager Vicente del Bosque paid tribute, stating that Xavi was 'a key part of the team's style of play' and 'he was more important to us than even the manager', and added 'We will miss him both on and off the pitch. He is a player who we hold in great esteem both personally and as a player. He is and always will be a person and a player who is greatly valued by the federation, the coaching staff and by myself.'
Style of play
The claim that Xavi is one of the best central midfielders of his generation relies largely on his ability to find and exploit space. As he said: "That's what I do: look for spaces. All day. I'm always looking". Finding space, he would appear for a team-mate to receive and then move the ball on, with his coach Pep Guardiola putting it: ‘I get the ball, I give the ball, I get the ball, I give the ball’. Xavi's abnormally good vision, pinpoint accurate passing and world class ball control allow him to dictate the flow of play whilst rarely relinquishing possession. His ability to completely control some matches has earned him the sobriquet, "The Puppet Master". A style introduced to the club by former coachJohan Cruyff, Barcelona president Sandro Rosell believed Xavi, together with Messi, Iniesta and Busquets, perfected the club's tiki-taka style of play.
Sponsorship
Xavi has a sponsorship deal with German sportswear and equipment supplier, Adidas. He wears Adidas Predator LZ football boots.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου