XAVI
Xavier Hernández Creus (Catalan: [ˈʃaβi ərˈnandəs ˈkɾɛws] Spanish: [ˈtʃaβj erˈnandeθ ˈkɾeus]; born 25 January 1980) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder and is known for playing for the Spain national team and Barcelona. Xavi's vision, pinpoint accurate passing and world-class ball control allowed him to dictate the flow of play while rarely relinquishing possession and earned him the sobriquet, "The Puppet Master". Highly regarded for his humble persona and team ethos, Xavi is viewed as being the embodiment of the tiki-taka passing style of play, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest central midfielders of all time.
Xavi's progression through the teams earned him a first-team appearance in a Copa Catalunya match against Lleida on 5 May 1998. Sustained impressive performance meant that he became a key member of Louis van Gaal's title-winning team. He also was named 1999 La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year. Xavi became Barcelona's principal playmaker after an injury to Pep Guardiola in the 1999–2000 season. Between 2001-2003, Xavi operated in a more defensive role as Barcelona was on the verge of bankruptcy and struggling to keep its place in La Liga's elite. Xavi was named the vice-captain in the 2004–05 season, in which he helped Barcelona win La Liga and the 2004 Supercopa de España. In the 2005–06 season, Xavi tore the ligaments in his left knee in training; he was out of action for four months, missing a part of the season, but returned in April and was on the substitutes bench for Barcelona's win in the 2006 UEFA Champions League final against Arsenal. He also won La Liga and the Supercopa de España again.
In the 2008/09 season, Pep Guardiola took over Barcelona and Xavi went from a key member of the support cast to the foundation upon which the most successful club team of all time was built. He was a main part of Barcelona's treble and La Liga's highest assisting player with 20 assists.He was also the highest assisting player in the Champions League with seven assists. 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 Bernabéu Stadium. He was acclaimed the second-best player of Barcelona in a season-long voting as Barcelona won the Liga title with a record 99 points. In 2010/11 Xavi was imperious as Barcelona once again won La Liga and the champions League in the same season. In the 2014/15 season, Xavi a fading force at this point, was part of yet another treble-winning side, becoming part of a rare breed of footballers who had managed the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice. Altogether he had won La Liga (8 times), Copa Del Rey (3 times), Spanish Super Cup (6 times) Champions League (4 times), Uefa Super Cup (2 times) and Fifa Club World Cup (2 times). On 21 May 2015, Xavi announced that he would join Qatari club Al Sadd at the end of the 2014–15 season on a three-year contract.
Xavi played for Spain at the 2000 Olympics, 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 World Cup before coming of age at Euro 2008. Xavi was named Euro 2008's player of the tournament after Spain defeated Germany 1–0 in the final. He was the beating hart beat of the 2010 World Cup winning side, providing the most number of accurate passes, 599 with a passing success rate of 91%, and crossing the ball inside the 18-yard box more than any other player performing in the tournament. Spain defended their European championship at Euro 2012, becoming the first player to register assists in two European Championship finals. On 5 August 2014, following the 2014 World Cup where Spain were eliminated at the group stage, Xavi announced his retirement from international football, having made 133 appearances in a 14-year period.