He is one half of Barcelona's passing carousel, as Sir Alex Ferguson called it. He is the glue that binds the World's best club team and the World's best team together. Standing at 5"7 one wouldn't have thought that Xavi Hernandez would be the supreme footballer that he is.
In an era where such emphasis is placed on the physical nature of a footballer, notably in English and Italian football, Xavi has dispelled the theory that you need to be 6 3" of smouldering muscle. Brought through the famed La Masia academy, his talent has been carefully nurtured and developed under the guise that size is no hindrance. Indoctrinated into the 'tika taka philosophy' from an early age, his sole cognitive function on a football pitch is to pass and move, pass and move. Almost without fail he completes the most passes in any given match; this is not, however, in the way that Swansea's Leon Britton (Xavi's main competitor in the passing statistics) passes. Britton passes sideways and backwards across expanses of no more than six yards, a sure way to achieve great scores on Opta stats. Xavi, on the other hand, is capable of cutting a defence in half with one waft of his right foot; he sees things that commentators can't see, let alone a poor lumbering centre half. Such is the majestic nature of the Catalan master, he barely appears to be trying to the casual observer.
Many have noted that he doesn't bare enough "athletic" qualities to be considered an "all time great", those who suggest this, are, in a word, ignorant. Athleticism is more than a great 100m sprint or the best on the bench press, Xavi possesses the most outrageous agility and the balance of a bird perching on an electricity cable. It is these two characteristics that enable him to play as he does.
Should he have been unfortunate enough to have been born English, surely he would now be stuck on some grubby marshland getting crumpled by a 47 year-old bruiser week in, week out. It would be an unusual step for an English club to take a punt on a child in the mould of Xavi. Rather, he is strutting his stuff on the World's finest pitches. England, take note.
Many argue that Zinedine Zidane is the best midfielder of his generation, yet, despite potentially possessing more individual brilliance, he wasn't so central to the way his teams played. The removal of Zidane would weaken the team but wouldn't have a detrimental effect on the nature of the play.
On a final note, Xavi, along with his Spanish compatriots and Barcelona team mates, have revolutionised football. The perceived way to achieve football excellence is now based on the "tika taka" style of La Masia. This is the crowning trophy on Xavi's mantelpiece, who since Johan Cruyff can claim to have changed football philosophy?