10 greatest Barcelona players of the 21st century 

#2 Xavi

Xavi

Like his boyhood friend and teammate Carles Puyol, Xavi seemed destined to end his career with Barcelona but a transfer to Qatari side Al Saad in 2015 put an end to those ambitions.

Despite not having the fairytale ending many predicted, it takes nothing away from the legendary career the former midfielder had at Camp Nou and for almost two decades of his life, he distinguished himself with his performances in midfield for Barcelona.

Before 2008, Xavi was almost a regular midfielder but the arrival of Pep Guardiola in that summer catapulted him to cult-like status and he became the model upon which the Catalan's possession-based style of play was built.

Famously, the former Barcelona captain had said that a young Xavi was going to retire him, while Iniesta would retire both of them and in many ways, this was an indication that Pep saw something special in the two players even before he delved into management.

Xavi possessed pristine distribution, passing ability and technique to find spaces no one else saw and this made him the embodiment of the style of play demanded by Guardiola based on Cruyffian principles.

Following the retirement of Puyol, Xavi was named the permanent captain and he got the fitting sendforth his career deserved when he lifted the Champions League in his final game for the club to complete his second treble.

To date, he is the club's record appearance maker with 767 appearances in all competitions, winning 25 major trophies while he was also an ever-present figure in the Spanish sides that conquered all and sundry between 2008 and 2012.

Upon his retirement, he ventured into coaching and currently manages former side Al Saad, while he also reportedly turned down the Barcelona job recently.

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