The real-genius :: R.AGE: The Blog

The real-genius

April 14th, 2010 | Published in Ian-ything Goes | 116 Comments

Last weekend’s El Classico - the coming together of three of the world’s best players; Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi?

What a load of bull.

Okay, Messi is the best player in the world at the moment, sure. But to talk about ”best players in the world” and leave out a certain genius who single-handedly destroyed the team Kaka and Ronaldo play for, is just unfair.

Unfortunately for Xavi Hernandez, that more or less has been the story of his career.

The Barcelona star has always been an unsung hero in spite of his wonderful ability. Just take the weekend’s result, for example, where Barcelona triumphed over Real Madrid by 2-0.

Messi has grabbed most of the headlines because he opened the scoring and notched his 40th goal of the season.

As usual the press have been making the same old comparisons between Messi and Ronaldo’s performances, analysing every single detail from work-rate to body language.

Few however, will remember the fact that Xavi effortlessly created both goals against a solid Madrid side playing at the Bernabeu, where they have a 100% home record.

What about how, with two perfectly measured passes, Xavi turned a scrappy midfield battle into a comfortable win for the Catalans? Even fewer will remember a glorious third through ball that put Messi one-on-one with goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who produced another one of his miracle saves to keep the scoreline respectable.

It was a joy to watch Xavi play, to see how for all of Madrid’s tough-tackling and stifling midfield tactics, he still managed to conjure his magic.

But the sad thing with Xavi is that it’s not the first time his match-winning performances have gone unnoticed.

At last season’s Champions League final against Manchester United, Xavi provided the pin-point pass for Messi’s headed goal that sealed their victory over United, who had one of the meanest defences at the time.

During that season, he led the assists charts in both La Liga and the Champions League, creating a whopping 27 goals for his team and scoring another 10 on his own — a huge factor in Barcelona winning the Treble.

And when Spain won the European Championship two years ago, it was another Xavi assist, a through ball which allowed Fernando Torres to score the winning goal in the final against Germany.

In 2006, Xavi was also overshadowed the first time he won the Champions League. It was the year when the ”holy trinity” of Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o and a 17-year-old Messi took centre stage with some frightening forward play, while Xavi and Deco pulled the strings behind the scenes in midfield.

But Xavi is more than happy to let Messi take all the plaudits he deserves as long as his beloved club continues to perform as a team.

”If the 11 players work hard, with the talent we have it’s difficult to lose a match. Also, we have the best player in the world,” he said after their recent 4-1 drubbing of Arsenal in the Champions League, where Messi scored all four goals.

While four is the big number everyone’s been talking about, Xavi’s stats against Arsenal were even more staggering. According to football writer Alex Stamp, Xavi made 244 successful passes over the two legs — more than Arsenal’s combined midfield of Abou Diaby, Samir Nasri, Denilson and even Cesc Fabregas. Throughout both matches, all 180 minutes of football, he missed a mere 15 passes.

But being a Catalan from Terrassa, Barcelona, Xavi was never going to complain about not getting showered with praise. He joined Barcelona’s famous academy when he was just 11, and he’s never played for another club since. He and teammate Andres Iniesta call themselves ‘’sons of the (Barcelona) system”.

At the moment, he is Barcelona’s second all time appearance-maker with over 500 appearances in club colours, and at the rate he’s going, he could easily go on to beat former defender Migueli’s record of 548 appearances.

To be considered a ”true great”, however, they say you have to perform on the biggest stage of all — the World Cup.

International football is the final frontier Messi has yet to conquer, and many are waiting to see if he can do it with Argentina in South Africa this summer.

Who knows? Maybe this time, Xavi will be the one stealing Messi’s thunder.

Earlier this week, Ian Yee met Lionel Messi in Barcelona, Spain, and Tweeted about it on twitter.com/thestar rage. He is now in England to meet Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard. For live updates on Ian’s adventures, head over to keep an eye on this blog or follow us on Twitter.