Full name: Xavier Hernandez Creus Nickname: Xavi
Date of birth: 25 January 1980 in Terrassa, Spain
Nationality: Spanish
Height: 1,70m
Weight: 68kg
Position: Midfielder
Club: Since 1997: Barcelona. Honours: 1999: Spanish league championship and FIFA U-20 World Cup winner. 2000: silver medal in the Olympic Football Tournament. 2002: FIFA World Cup™ quarter-finalist. 2005: Spanish league championship and super cup winner. 2006: Spanish championship, super cup and UEFA Champions League winner, reached round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup™. 2008: European Championship winner and player of the tournament. 65 caps and eight goals for Spain.
Top of the class
Xavi Hernandez may be small in stature but in footballing terms he is a giant. The 28-year-old Spaniard is one of the world’s best midfielders and like all players of his class, he makes difficult things look simple.
Since Barcelona were founded more than a hundred years ago, the club has been home to players of the calibre of Samitier, Kubala, Ramailets, Segarra, Luis Suarez, Asensi, Cruyff, Neeskens, Rexach, Maradona, Schuster, Lineker, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Zubizarreta, Stoitchkov, Guardiola, Romario, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Eco’o, Henry and Messi, a list that would be incomplete without the inclusion of Xavi Hernandez, who was born and bred in the neighbouring town of Tertassa.
Voted player of the tournament at this year’s EURO for his decisive contribution to Spain’s victory and ranked third in Barcelona’s list of all-time appearances (with 430), surpassed only by “Tarzan” Migueli (548) and Carles Rexach (452), whom he now has in his sights, the 28-year-old is a player that any manager would give his eye teeth to sign.
Although Xavi joined Barcelona in 1991 at the age of 11, he did not make his first-team debut until 18 August 1998, under Louis van Gaal. The Dutchman, who was the architect of the last great Ajax side (containing the likes of Van der Sar, the De Boer brothers, Davids, Seedorf, Finidi, Litmanen, Kluivert, Overmars, Kanu etc.), strongly backed Xavi to succeed and did not hesitate to select him for the Spanish super cup match against Mallorca. “Go out there, play your game and enjoy it,” were Van Gaal’s words on confirming that he would be making his debut. Ten years later, with a good few years left to continue enjoying himself and playing his game, Xavi has deservedly achieved global recognition.
HIS BIG CHANCE
Ever since he made his debut, on which he even scored a goal, everyone has been keen to compare his playing style with that of Josep Guardiola, now his coach at the Camp Nou. Xavi is the prime example of Barcelona’s fine tradition of producing playmakers. Other examples include Milla, Guardiola, De la Pena, Arteta, Fabregas and Iniesta.
He is the prime example because unlike the majority of those listed above, Xavi is the complete footballer. He plays, he brings other players into the game, he wins balls and he is also a goalscorer. His vision – the directness of his play, which enables him to arrive at the opponents’ penalty area for the second ball even when he is the architect of the original move — is what differentiates him from the rest and enables him to tip the balance of a game. He really is top of the class. As a result, he has been a first-team regular under every single one of the coaches that have passed through the Camp Nou during his time at the club: Van Gaal (twice), Serra Ferrer, Rexach, Antic, Rijkaard and Guardiola.
Not even a serious knee injury, which kept him on the sidelines for six months
Xavi Hernandez read the game brilliantly in the EURO 2008 final against Germany. photos- keystone
during the 2005-2006 season, damaged the confidence the club has always placed in the midfielder from Terrassa. Indeed, it was another serious injury, this time to Guardiola (another coincidence), that gave Xavi his big chance during the 1999-2000 campaign.
NOT A PHYSICAL PLAYER
However, in football, as in life, nothing is that simple and Xavi knows how hard it is to be a product of a club’s youth system. Not being a big-name signing is a cross that every young player who has made it through the ranks has to bear. Thar is the harsh reality. Xavi himself has admitted that he has no right to complain because when he was a boy, he was mote interested in the skills of the Laudrup brothers, Stoitchkov, Rosatio and Koeman than those of homegrown members of Barcelona’s “Dream Team” such as Bakcro, Beguiristain and Goikoetxea.
Possessing a technique that few players in the world today can match, Xavi is clever enough to avoid contact and physical football and instead focuses on directing the ball into the area of the pitch close to the opponents’ penalty box where games are decided, providing killer passes for the strikers to convert. Xavi is one of the privileged few who understand possession football, a simple concept, but most of the time a difficult one to implement on the field. Theory is one thing but practice is another and that is where players such as Xavi
make a difference because they have the edge over other players in terms of intelligence.
PLAY IT AGAIN
“As Johan Cruyff always says, the difficult thing is not making it, but staying there,” points out Xavi, who is not afraid to stand up for his team-mates and coaches. Despite coming across as quiet and withdrawn, he is not one to hide, either on the pitch or off it. He does not
mince his words and was one of former national team coach Luis Aragones’s staunchest supporters. A few months before the EURO 2008 finals, the player came out in defence of his coach on several occasions during the media campaign that had been launched against him. “Everyone wants rid of the coach and I find that very unfair. It’s a privilege to have met him. Luis is the essence of football, he lives for it, he loves it, he transmits it, he understands footballers and he gives it his all. And now they want rid of him. Well I don’t think that’s right. You have to be patient and let him work until the European Championship.”
Subsequent events and results proved that not only Xavi but the board of the Spanish football association (RFEF), who backed Aragones in the face of widespread opposition, were right. After backing his coach before the competition, Xavi’s first thought in the glow of the Spanish triumph was for Aragones: “It’s a victory for Luis. He convinced us that we were the best team in the world. He devised the tactics and opted for an idea, a style, we followed it and it has led us to victory.”
Xavi was Aragones’ brain on the pitch and the ideal player to embody the coach’s mantra of “Play the ball. Play it again and again and again”. Xavi is the king of possession football, as demonstrated by the fact that he was affectionately dubbed “Humphrey Bogart” by the journalist Andres Montes. Why? The answer can be found in one of the most famous films in the history of cinema, Casablanca, starring Bogart, which contains the famously misquoted line “Play it again, Sam”.
Xavi’s list of honours, which includes three Spanish league titles, two Spanish super cups, Champions League tide, FIFA U-20 World Cup title, an Olympic silver medal and European Championship, and is richer in quality than quantity, elevates him to the position of a global superstar. His most recent honour was accompanied by his being named Player of the Tournament by the UEFA Technical Team, who justified their choice as follows: “Dating the whole of the European Championship he was extremely influential in the whole possession, passing, penetrating kind of game played by Spain, who did not attempt to change their image and remained true to their philosophy. If you are not tall, as is the case with Xavi, you have to be quick, clever and technical. And he is.”
What is not mentioned is that Xavi ran 11,5 kilometres in that final against Germany and that he also provided a magnificent ball into space for Fernando Torres’ winning goal.
The Stadium
Name: Anfield Stadium
Address: Anfield Road, Liverpool, L40TH
Opened: 1884
Last renovation: 1998
Total capacity: 45,370
Record attendance: 61,905
Covered: 100%
Home team: Liverpool
Internet: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv
Anfield – The greatest place
Anfield Stadium and its world-famous Kop have traditionally been Liverpool’s greatest strength but now the arena has become its greatest weakness as the club looks to the future. Liverpool’s historic home was a renowned backdrop as the club dominated English and European football in the 1970s and 1980s, but now, despite the fond memories, even the most hardened traditionalist will agree that Anfield is holding the club back.
With a capacity of just 45,370, Anfield accommodates 30,000 fewer fans than Old Trafford – home to arch-rivals Manchester United – on any given matchday. This has hit the club where it hurts — in the pocket -and explains why the club’s American owners are seeking a new home. It is
estimated that matchdays at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and Unitcd’s Old Trafford yield revenues three times higher than those of their Merseyside rivals, which means that every season these clubs earn £50 million more than Liverpool simply because they play in a bigger stadium. “At the Emirates, Old Trafford and Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge in particular, there is much more corporate hospitality than at Anfield, which can’t meet demand these days,” Liverpool legend Graeme Souness told FIFA magazine in an exclusive interview. “These people are not so much supporters as an audience, which is a downside, bur Liverpool must latch onto this trend in order to keep up because modern stadiums generate so much money and make Anfield seem like a first or second division ground. Of course, they’ll lose something when they build a new stadium but that’s the price on
the ticket. It’s progress. It’s how the game’s evolving.”
THE KOP
Anfield was originally the home of Everton, who beat Earlstown 5-0 in the first game staged there on 28 September 1884. However, a rent dispute with leaseholder John Houlding saw Everton move to Goodison Park, and Houlding subsequently formed Liverpool Association Football Club. Liverpool’s first match saw Rotherham Town beaten 7-0 on 1 September 1892, and a year later Lincoln City were beaten 4-0 in the club’s first league game.
Liverpool went on to win the Football League Championship twice in 1901 and 1906 and then the Kop came into being after a new stand was erected along Walton Breck Road. It was named the “Spion Kop” by Ernest Edwards, sports editor of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, after a hill in South Africa where a local regiment suffered heavy losses in the Boer War as the British attempted to take a strategically Important hilltop.
“For me, Anfield was the greatest place for football in the world,” added Souness, a former Liverpool captain who helped the Reds win five League Championships, three
European Cups and four League Cups between 1978 and 1984. “It’s a very special place, above all on European nights. When teams were visiting for the first time they were beaten before the ball was kicked because of the reception when they emerged from the tunnel. It was so intimidating. It frightened the life out of most of them and the referee was placed under intense pressure. It still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end when I hear the fans singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, especially on European nights. It’s universally accepted as the no. 1 football anthem in the world. The supporters standing in the Kop made it an extraordinary atmosphere. They understood football better than anybody else. They had great belief in the side. Even when we were a goal down or not playing well they never allowed any frustration they felt to creep on to the pitch.”
ANFIELD’S POWER
The Kop used to hold 30,000 partisan supporters but nowadays it only has space for 12,000 fans, having been redeveloped following the Hillsborough Disaster and the subsequent Taylor Report, which demanded the introduction of all-seater stadium. Despite many changes through the years, the Kop has still been treated to thrills and spills, especially during European ties at a ground called the “coliseum” by celebrated BBC journalist Stuart Hall.
Highlights include a 3-1 semi-final first-leg win in 1965 over Italian giants Inter and a 3-1 quarter-final victory in 1977 against French side St Etienne when David Fairclough lived up to his “Supersub” nickname
with a crucial late goal to help his team on their way to clinching their first European crown. More recently, Steven Gerrard scored the most dramatic goal of his career when he struck a late thunderbolt against Olympiakos to keep the Reds’ Champions League dreams alive.
That atmosphere was eclipsed by a 1-0 semi-final victory over Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2005 when a wall of sound helped the home side and paved the way for the so-called “Miracle of Istanbul” when AC Milan were pipped to the pinnacle of world football’s elite club competition. “I felt the power of Anfield, it was magnificent,” then Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho reflected afterwards. “I felt it didn’t interfere with my players but maybe it interfered with other people and maybe it interfered with the result.”
Anfield is a ground with plenty of room for sentiment, as shown by the Shankly Gates, which pay homage to their legendary Scottish manager, and the Hillsborough disaster memorial. The ground has strong religious
connotations – after 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives at Hillsborough, Anfield was turned into a shrine to the victims.
The celebrated “This is Anfield” sign in the players’ tunnel is meant to unnerve opponents and ensure good fortune for Liverpool players who touch it with both hands as they head into action.
Anfield will continue to play home to Liverpool for the foreseeable future after proposals for a new £350-miilion 60,000-seater stadium in nearby Stanley Park were shelved by co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who have also ruled out a ground-share with Everton. “Our commitment to building a new world-class stadium is undiminished,” a club spokesman said. “Like many other major development projects, we are affected by global market conditions and the project will be delayed in the short term. We will use this period productively and revisit the plans to increase its capacity to 73,000 seats.”
Fabio Capello
Born: 18 June 1946 in San Canzian d’lsonzo (Italy)
Nationality: Italian
Career as a player: 1964-1967: SPAL Ferrara. 1967-1969: Roma. 1969-1976: Juventus. 1976-1979: AC Milan.
Honours as a player: four Italian league titles (1972, 1973, 1975, 1979), two Italian cups (1969, 1977). Played in 1974 FIFA World Cup™ in West Germany. 32 international appearances for Italy.
Career as a coach: 1991-1996: AC Milan. 1996-1997: Real Madrid. 1997-1998: AC Milan. 1999-2004: Roma. 2004-2006: Juventus. 2006-2007: Real Madrid. Since December 2007:England.
Honours as a coach: Five Itaiian league titles (1992, 1993, 1994, 1996,2001), four Itaiian super cups(1992, 1993, 1994, 2001), two Spanish league titles (1997, 2007), UEFA
Champions League winner (1994) and European Super Cup
“A childhood dream has come true”
Fabio Capello has been England coach for almost a year now. The 62-year-old Italian discusses his first 12 months in charge and what the future holds.
FM: How would you sum up your first 12 months as England coach?
Fabio Capello: It’s all been very positive. The team has started its 2016 World Cup qualifying campaign in fine form, mainly due to the five warm-up matches that we played against Switzerland, USA, Trinidad and Tobago and
always been famous for. More important though, we have to get over this abs fear of playing at Wembley, where critic from the crowd has often paralysed the team in the recent years. I can remember the “lion’s roar” of Wembley, but recently that roar has turned into boos and moans because of the team’s disappointing performances and results. Our aim now is to continue on our run of victories as that will not only restore the players’ belief in their own abilities, but also the fans’ faith in the team. We will play more attractive football when we have more confidence.
Many fans are already demanding that England reach the semi-finals, at the very least, of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa …
Capello: I have never set myself targets like that because I am not someone who is happy with half-measures. I always play to win, as I proved at AC Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and Juventus. I want my players to have the same ambition. I always want to achieve as much as possible, and the English have to get back to that mentality too.
So where have you identified problems?
Capello: Unfortunately, only 40% of the players in the Premier League are English. By way of comparison, 64% of the players in Serie A arc Italian, 63% of the players in the Primera Division are Spanish, 53% of the players in the Bundesliga are German, and 57% of the players in Fiance’s Ligue 1 are French. That means that I have a smaller pool of players at my disposal, but fortunately, they are of excellent quality. It is just a shame that players like Jamie Carragher and Paul Scholes have retired from international duty — I could certainly have used their experience.
Yet on the other hand, you seem to be ready to do without David Beckham and Michael Owen, two of England’s leading lights in recent years …
Capello: I only ever call up the best players, or at least the players who are the most suited to the way I wish to play. Both Beckham, who I worked with for a year at Real Madrid, and Owen are wonderful professionals who could still play vital roles for England. I will never close the door to the national team on anyone, but you also have to remember that in modern football, only players who are in peak
physical condition can make the most of their technical abilities.
It also wasn’t easy for you to pick a captain, apparently …
Capello: I have chosen John Terry for that position, but Rio Ferdinand, his deputy, would also have been worthy of the honour. They play alongside each other in central defence, they are both leaders at their clubs, Chelsea and Manchester United respectively, they both have international experience and they are both born winners. I have always had captains with similar traits at centre-half, whether it was Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Fernando Hierro, Walter Samuel or Fabio Cannavaro -defenders who can always read the game, influence their team-mates and set an example both on and off the pitch.
What differences have you noticed between Italian, Spanish and English football?
Capello: In Italy, it is all about tactics and playing for a result, whereas in Spain, the focus is on technique and pace. In England, the game is based on aggression and non-stop action. You can see the biggest differences in the stands though. In England, you will find passion and safety. In Spain, it’s a huge family party. But in Italy, the Ultras terrorise everyone and everything, and sometimes they even tell the politicians and club bosses what to do. The “organised tifosi” have far too much power. It’s only an Italian phenomenon. In Italy, crowds try and stop away teams getting to the stadiums, so instead, they have to be driven straight to the dressing rooms in their team bus while being verbally abused and pelted with whatever people can lay their hands on.
Why did Spain win EURO 2008?
Capello: In the past, Spain used to play on their furia, their fury, but they have now rediscovered the beautiful game. The national team has benefited from the fact that virtually every club in Spain uses the same system, one that is based on possession, technique and quick passing movements. The Spanish now play quick passes to each other along the ground because they do not conform to the stereotype of the modern footballer – Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, David Silva and David Villa are not what you would call “supermen”. Winning the European Championship will have given this young team of players, who have many years ahead of them, even more self-confidence, and this new generation is no longer divided by ancient regional rivalries and conflicts. Before, the team was full of Castilians, Catalans and Basques, but now the players all feel Spanish. I’d just like to say one final thing though: the only game in which Spain didn’t score in 120 minutes was their quarter-final clash with Italy … who were, let us not forget, without Cannavaro, Gattuso and Pirlo.
What did EURO 2008 teach us in terms of tactics?
Capello: There’s hardly anything new to discover in football, but certain aspects can be reviewed and adapted to meet current trends. Every team, no matter what formation they use, actually have a system that I call the “9-1″ formation. By that I mean that nine players primarily have defensive duties, and up front there is one lone striker who is supported by his team-mates rushing up to join him in attack. The crucial difference often lies in the quality of the goalkeeper and the striker, with Spain’s Iker Casillas and Fernando Torres or Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon and Luca Toni fine examples. England also have good goalkeepers, but they always seem to have bad luck when they play for the national team and make mistakes in important matches.
So do you want to help England make progress in those areas?
Capello: Football always has to be a reflection of a country’s culture. I don’t want to change the characteristics and traits of English footballers, I just want to instil more discipline and teach them to work better as a team. Having said that, I do allow each player room to develop his own style within the role that I assign to him. I want to give England a little taste of Latin football from France, Italy, Greece and Spain, and even from Portugal and Croatia, as all of these countries have dominated the European Championship and World Cup in the last ten years, with the notable exception of the World Cup in 2002 when Brazil came out on top. English football has not just been about “kick and rush” or “put the ball in the box” for many years now. I want a compact English team. Whether we win or lose, the most important thing is that we have a team on the pitch and not just a group of players.
So that’s why The Football Association decided to employ a foreign coach?
Capello: Foreigners don’t just make up 60% of the players in the Premier League, the managers of the four leading clubs are also foreign: Brazil’s Luiz Felipe Scolari at Chelsea, Spain’s Rafael Benitez at Liverpool, France’s Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, and also, if you like, Scotland’s Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. All four clubs have huge honours lists, but England haven’t won anything for nearly 50 years now. Nevertheless, it was important for me to have Ray Clemence and Stuart Pearce on my backroom staff, and I often have long discussions with Sir Trevor Brooking, The FA’s technical director.
Why did you choose England?
Capello: It was a childhood dream of mine. For me, the English have always been the teachers of our sport, the ones who took the game to the rest of the world. In 2000, Howard Wilkinson, who at the time was England’s interim coach, asked me whether I would be interested in taking over, but in the end The FA chose Sven-Goran Eriksson. It wouldn’t have been the right time for me anyway, hut now I am eager and determined to help England rediscover the spirit that they once had as the teachers of football. I simply cannot understand how England can drop as low, as we speak, as 15th in the FIFA World Ranking.
How is your English coming along? When you first took over, the media claimed that you only used swear words when talking to the players.
Capello: To be able to train a team, you have to know the football jargon of that particular country. My English is good now, and I’ll soon be fluent. Apart from Italian, I also speak Spanish well and 1 have a working knowledge of both French and German. Anyway, I am used to being criticised by the media and to doing my own thing, and it helps that I don’t read any newspapers whatsoever, regardless of whether my team wins or loses. I talk on a daily basis only to my colleagues, and not to the press or the TV, but I know that I
have the respect of the English media. I do not believe that being England coach is quite the “mission impossible” that it is always made out to be.
You have also ordered the English players to change their eating habits and some other routines …
Capello: That’s true. I have, for example, impressed upon them the advantages of a Mediterranean diet over ketchup and chips. I have also put some rules of conduct in place for when the national team meets up, from eating breakfast together to the use of mobile phones, which must be switched off from time to time. The players have been very cooperative, and that is a clear indication of the high level of professionalism at their clubs. Arsenal’s academy, for example, is the perfect example of how young players should be brought along at all European clubs.
You also discovered Theo Walcott, who caused a sensation by scoring a hat trick in England’s 4-1 away win over Croatia in the FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers …
Capello: Eriksson had told me only good things about Walcott. He had taken him to the World Cup in 2006, don’t forget, even though he didn’t play, so I called him up to the squad and I was immediately impressed with his dribbling skills, his pace and his range of passes. At Arsenal, he has a manager, Arsene Wenger, who can help him get even better. I have also seen a lot of good players in the England U-21 side, and that fills me with great hope for the future.
Who are the best players you have ever played with or coached?
Capello: With Italy, it was Gigi Riva and Dino Zoff. As a coach, I particularly admired Marco van Basten and Paolo Maldini for their talent, their professional attitude and their will to win.
Your contract runs until 2012, the year of the Olympic Games in London …
Capello: Yes. I will be 66 by then and I will have reached retirement age. Then I want to travel and visit all of the ancient cultures that fascinate me so much. But I would also like to make another of my dreams come true by taking part in the Olympic Games, something that 1
was denied as a player, and something that still fills me with regret. 1 think it’s only fair that Great Britain should have a football team in the Olympics, but it is up to others to decide how, and with which players.
Are you enjoying life in London?
Capello: I love it. My wife and I live in a Hat in Belgravia. My office is at FA headquarters in Soho Square, but I can’t wait until we move to Wembley, which will be our new home. I am also looking forward to the new National Football Centre in Burton in Staffordshire. There is also so much culture for me to explore in London. My favourite places are the Barbican Centre, Sotheby’s, the British Museum, the Tate Gallery and the Royal Albert Hall. There are also many excellent restaurants with cuisine from all around the world. Personally, I prefer Italian, Japanese or Oriental. There isn’t exactly a shortage of golf courses for me to work on my new hobby either, and the weather is no worse than it is in Milan or Turin. I was born and brought up in Friuli, so I feel at home with a little bit of cold, rain and fog.
