Skip to content

Xavi discusses role models, fond memories, winning over critics

Albert Gea / Reuters

When Xavi talks, the footballing community listens.

The 35-year-old midfielder - who recently made his 500th La Liga appearance for Barcelona - discussed a wide range of subjects as he reflected on his 17-year career at the Camp Nou in an interview with El Periodico.

It should come as no surprise that his words, as translated by Spanish daily Marca, provided great insight into one of the most illustrious stints ever seen in Spanish football.

On his footballing role models:

As a youngster, the player I looked up to was Bernd Schuster. When I got put in central midfield, I used to watch him play and I'd be transfixed. Later I began to model myself on Pep: the way he'd play one-touch passes, how he'd accelerate, the way he'd slow things down, how he shaped himself to receive the ball, looking around in every direction first.

On the match he remembers most fondly

The pinnacle, the crowning game, was the 5-0 against Real Madrid. Nothing compares, although the 6-2 away was also amazing. What football, what dominance. We had the ball all the time: when we lost it, we won it back instantly. It was football at its most sublime. The Real Madrid players' heads had dropped as they came off 2-0 down at the break. We ran into the dressing room: we couldn't wait for the second half to begin ... we could have scored even more. We were gunning for them because of everything they'd been saying about us.

On struggle to win over the critics early in his career

I didn't get recognition until 2008, when I'd been in the team for 10 years. If I leaf through papers from years gone by, it makes me laugh: they said I was obsolete, that Edgar Davids made me look good, that I only moved the ball from side to side, they called me 'the windscreen wiper' ...

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox