Xavi 6

Personal Biography

Xavi has spent all his footballing life at Barça, having joined the club in July 1991, when he was only 11 years old.

He made rapid progress and in the 97-98 season was promoted from the youth team to Barça B, where he was the central playmaker in Jordi Gonzalvo's team which won promotion to the second division.

Xavi's dream of making his official debut with the first team squad came true when he played in the Spanish Super Cup against Mallorca in the summer of 1998. He couldn’t have hoped for a better start, for not only was he in the starting line up, but he also scored. Xavi also played an important role in the league-winning season of 1998-99 with Van Gaal as manager, most notably with an important goal in the Nuevo Zorrilla, which turned round the team's fortunes.

He was soon being hailed as the new Pep Guardiola as central organiser in the team, first as temporary replacement for his injured future manager, and later on a permanent basis following Guardiola’s departure to Italy. With Van Gaal, Rexach, Antic, Rijkaard and Guardiola in charge of the team, Xavi has always been a key member of the team - a fact made clear by the 300 official games he completed whilst still only 25 years old.

With Rijkaard, Xavi showed that he can not only play at the heart of midfield, but is also more than able to cover any position in the centre of the park, an ability reflected in the fact that he was the most used player in the League winning 2004-05 season, playing 36 games in all.

Xavi will never forget 2 December 2005. While training at La Masía, the midfielder tore ligaments in his left knee. His recovery was swifter than expected and within five months he was playing again. On 29 April 2006 against Cadiz, Xavi once again "felt like a footballer". He was back in time to celebrate the League and Champions League titles with his team-mates.

In the last two seasons with Frank Rijkaard in the dugout, Xavi was one of the players most used by the Dutch manager.

When Guardiola took over, Xavi Hernández became a more prolific goalscorer than ever. He beat his own record when he got 10 goals in 54 games, and in Iniesta found his ideal complement in the FCB midfield. The duo formed the central axis of the treble winning season, and further excelled as Barça collected all six major trophies in one year. Xavi led the team to Liga victory in the 2009/10 season with an astonishing 99 points, and was named third best player in the world for 2009.

Since 2010/11, the midfielder has been building on what is always a record number of appearances for the club. On January 2, 2011, in the 2-1 win over Levante, Xavi equalled Migueli’s record of 549 games in a Barça shirt, and in 2010/11 also equalled the record shared by Ramallets and Guardiola for winning the league six times with the club. He was also named third in the Ballon d’Or awards for the second and third time in 2010 and 2011.

On January 15, 2012 at home to Betis, Xavi made it 400 Liga appearances, and celebrated by scoring his tenth goal of the season, thus equally his personal best set in 08/09. Xavi later took that tally up to 14 as his amazing understanding of the game spearheaded the team towards a series of new honours: the Spanish Supercup, the European Supercup, the Clubs World Cup and the Copa del Rey. It was he who made it 2-0 against Santos in Japan and ensure that the club could yet again stake its claim to being the best in the world.

Naturally, Xavi Hernández has also been one of the stars of the outstanding Spain of recent years, having appeared at three World Cups (2002, 2006 and 2010) and three European Championships (2004, 2008 and 2012), and being named man of the tournament when Spain won the Euros in 2008, the same year he was named fifth best player in the world by FIFA.

Xavi finally got his hands on the coveted World Cup trophy in 2010, all that was missing for him to be declared one of the greatest midfielders the game has ever known. Regarded as one of the finest passers of the ball in football, at that tournament he won an award in recognition of that.