| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Xavier Hernández i Creus | |||||||||||
| Date of birth | 25 January 1980 | |||||||||||
| Place of birth | Terrassa, Spain | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] | |||||||||||
| Playing position | Midfielder | |||||||||||
| Club information | ||||||||||||
| Current club | Barcelona | |||||||||||
| Number | 6 | |||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||
| 1991–1997 | Barcelona | |||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||||
| 1997–2000 | Barcelona B | 61 | (4) | |||||||||
| 1998– | Barcelona | 398 | (43) | |||||||||
| National team‡ | ||||||||||||
| 1997 | Spain U17 | 10 | (2) | |||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Spain U18 | 10 | (0) | |||||||||
| 1999 | Spain U20 | 6 | (2) | |||||||||
| 1998–2001 | Spain U21 | 25 | (7) | |||||||||
| 2000 | Spain U23 | 6 | (2) | |||||||||
| 2000– | Spain | 107 | (10) | |||||||||
| 2000– | Catalonia | 8 | (2) | |||||||||
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Honours
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| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Xavier Hernández i Creus (born 25 January 1980), commonly known as Xavi Hernández or simply Xavi (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈʃaβi]), is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona, where he has spent his entire 14-year career.
He has been capped 107 times for the Spanish national team, with whom he won UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He was named Player of the Tournament by UEFA at UEFA Euro 2008.[2]
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Born in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia,[1] Xavi is a product of Barcelona's La Masia youth system and has been a regular at Camp Nou since the age of 11. He 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 10th in the league. Sustained impressive performance meant that he became a key member of Louis van Gaal's title-winning team. An injury to Pep Guardiola in the following 1999–00 season meant that Xavi became Barcelona's principal playmaker, a position he has retained ever since.
He was the vice-captain in the 2004–05 season. 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.
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.
During the 2009–10 season, journalists increasingly noted Xavi's contribution to the Barcelona side. For example:
"Quite simply the best player of all time. 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 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.[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] 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.[6][7]
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.[8]
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. A tap-in against Real Sociedad[9] was followed up by a delightful lob in the 8-0 mauling of Osasuna[10] with further goals coming from a header in a win over Racing Santander[11] and a wonderful 25-yrd free-kick versus Granada CF[12]. Xavi scored his first UEFA Champions League goal of the campaign when he netted the winner at the San Siro ensuring Barcelona finished top of the group with a 3-2 win over AC Milan[13]. It was announced on the 5th December 2011 that Xavi had once again made the final three-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d'Or[14]. Xavi made his 600th club appearance in El Clásico, a game which Barca won 3-1 despite going a goal down in the opening seconds of the match. The midfielder marked the occasion with a goal; a long-range volley which took a big deflection off Marcelo to wrong-foot Casillas [15]. Xavi won his fifth trophy of 2011, and 19th overall[16], when he scored and made a goal in the FIFA Club World Cup final against Santos FC in December. Xavi laid on the first goal for Lionel Messi before volleying in the second to claim his seventh goal in all competitions [17]. The eighth followed soon after, when Xavi scored the fourth in Barca's amazing 9-0 rout against CE L'Hospitalet[18].
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 include winning the UEFA European Football Championship and the UEFA Champions League twice. Xavi is also a six time Liga BBVA Champion and played in the Barcelona side that won the famed unprecedented Spanish treble, which culminated in a record six trophies, the sextuple, in one calendar year.[19] On 25 March 2011, Xavi earned his 100th cap for Spain in the 2-1 home win against the Czech Republic in a Euro 2012 qualifier.
Xavi was named in Spain's squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, culminating in winning the World Cup title. The veteran midfielder finished with an 89 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.[20] Of those who reached the final or the third place match, Xavi led the field in passes attempted, passes completed, corners attempted (47), corners completed (26), and deliveries in the penalty area (15).[21]
| National team | Season | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 2000–01 | 1 | 0 |
| 2001–02 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2002–03 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2003–04 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2004–05 | 8 | 1 | |
| 2005–06 | 13 | 1 | |
| 2006–07 | 7 | 1 | |
| 2007–08 | 16 | 4 | |
| 2008–09 | 14 | 1 | |
| 2009–10 | 17 | 0 | |
| 2010–11 | 7 | 1 | |
| 2011-12 | 6 | 1 | |
| Total | 107 | 10 |
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 26 March 2005 | Estadio El Helmántico, Salamanca, Spain | China PR | 2–0 | 3–0 | Friendly |
| 2. | 6 September 2006 | Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland | 0–1 | 3–2 | UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying |
| 3. | 11 October 2006 | Nueva Condomina, Murcia, Spain | Argentina | 1–0 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 4. | 12 September 2007 | Estadio Carlos Tartiere, Oviedo, Spain | Latvia | 1–0 | 2–0 | UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying |
| 5. | 21 November 2007 | Estadio Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain | Northern Ireland | 1–0 | 1–0 | UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying |
| 6. | 4 June 2008 | Estadio El Sardinero, Santander, Spain | United States | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 7. | 26 June 2008 | Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria | Russia | 0–1 | 0–3 | UEFA Euro 2008 |
| 8. | 20 August 2008 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark | Denmark | 0–2 | 0–3 | Friendly |
| 9. | 29 March 2011 | S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, Kaunas, Lithuania | Lithuania | 0–1 | 1–3 | UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying |
| 10. | 6 September 2011 | Estadio Las Gaunas, Logroño, Spain | Liechtenstein | 0–3 | 0–6 | UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying |
Xavi’s stake to claim as one of the best midfielders of his generation relies largely on his ability to find and exploit space. As said by Xavi himself: “That’s what I do: look for spaces. All day. I’m always looking”.[23] 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”.[24][25]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other [28] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 0 | |
| 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 | 31 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 50 | 5 | |
| 2011–12 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 25 | 8 | |
| Total | 398 | 43 | 52 | 8 | 134 | 11 | 18 | 4 | 602 | 66 | |
| Career totals | 459 | 47 | 52 | 8 | 134 | 11 | 18 | 4 | 663 | 70 | |
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