The biggest compliment you can pay Xavi is that neither Barcelona nor Spain have been as dominant or intelligent or efficient in the press or even defensively secure with his decline/move-away despite having incredible players like Messi, Iniesta, Busquets, Neymar, Suárez and co. It's like taking Beckenbauer or Cruyff or Platini out of their teams for a period of time back in the day — their absence is immediately felt as everything becomes less fluid and organized and “automatic” because they were the basis for the entire plan. As soon as he slowed down (and subsequently left), Barcelona's offense grew in stature as the focal point of the club and they became increasingly reliant on individual magic and counter-attacking football...which was a watershed moment in football, really. Not many central midfielders can claim to be that important for their teams and that influential on the overall footballing landscape — and certainly not for teams as dominant and successful as Barcelona and Spain were. Definitely the greatest midfielder of his type as a consummate master-of-puppets (and one of the greatest overall with aforementioned players like Rijkaard, Matthäus, Neeskens, Falcão, Didi if you qualify him as one), one of the greatest manipulators of space the game has ever seen (his best quality IMO...always thinking about space and timing and planning ahead), the man who is most synonymous with our perception of tiki-taka, one of the most consistent and intelligent players of the modern era (with the likes of Lahm), and an outstanding yet understated leader/organizer to boot.