Messi rarely scored from Xaviesta's assists.
Xavi
- Thread starter Eddy_JukeZ
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Mourinho tried it in the series of four clásicos in 2011. Pepe as a holding mifielder was the responsible for nullify and often man-mark Xavi and Iniesta out of the game, leaving Busquets as the main responsible for the key passes. In the Copa del Rey final defeat to Real, Barcelona was very imprecisive and lacked their usual creativity in their passing because they were in a very uninspired day and Mourinho made the match as physical as he could and also instructing Real's players to press insanely and not hesitate to foul Barcelona. The game was a whole was extremely scrappy, start-stop, and Barcelona could not get in their passing rhythm. Instead, the game became a battle.
Daniel Alves is the player who has the highest number of assists for Lionel Messi's goals.
Pep's Barcelona against Emery's Valencia matches were so good. Valencia had Diego Alves, Miguel, Alba, Banega, Fernandes, Mata, Aduriz, etc
It stopped their passing rhythm but Barca still had tremendous attackers upfront and Real offered nothing in attack. Most of the time if Barca scored first the game would be over.
Copa final we had a lot of chances actually, first half and extra time we were demolishing them
Second half they controlled the game but had no real chances other than an offside goal
I remember the match behind extremely cagey and intense. Real played an excellent game of defense and counter-attacking but I dont think dominated is the word. Mou used the exact same tactic and formation in their next CL encounter and it was pretty ineffectual when the onus was on them get a goal at home. The tactic had 11 players in their own half for most parts of the game. Mou got lambasted for being anti-football shortly after.
Xavi had consistently more passing skills than Iniesta and had more goals than Iniesta. and Iniesta played more forward than Xavi
Iniesta was a superb gifted player but was poor on goal (though scored 2 of the most important goals for Barcelona and Spain).Iniesta was ahead in individual talent, but Xavi was way ahead on collective intelligence. He was the core ans system, Iniesta was the perfect partner to go forward
https://mobile.twitter.com/XaviTempo_/status/1026179797267959808
Video of a good Xavi performance away from home on a cold and rainy day.
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Regarding the Euro 2012 final, one advantage Xavi had over Pirlo was that Spain was stacked with creative players (Xavi, Iniesta, Silva, Alonso, Cesc) while for Italy everything went through Pirlo.
So Spain could focus on solely marking Pirlo out of the game to shut down Italy.
However, if you compare their careers and peaks, Xavi is above Pirlo.
So Spain could focus on solely marking Pirlo out of the game to shut down Italy.
However, if you compare their careers and peaks, Xavi is above Pirlo.
Indeed. The average football fan doesnt realise that Xavi averaged more goals and assists than Ini, despite playing deeper. He simply has been the most influential central midfielder for both club and country that the world has ever seen. Incredible!!
In my opinion, someone like Iniesta scoring at Stamford Bridge '09 and the WC'10 final is one of the biggest ironies of (modern) football history. It should had been Messi and C.Fàbregas (with Iniesta assisting) but destiny said otherwise.
On a normal day, Iniesta hated long shots or moving to a SS/CF position, unlike Scholes.
Compilation of Xavi's passes during the 2010/2011 season. Interestingly enough, many of Xavi's craziest passes and through balls, probably most of them, were in the two previous seasons rather than 2010/2011. And it is still a great compilation with many truly great passes.
I imagine these high pressing hard work rate tactics that are popular now would have been useless against that Barcelona side.
They weren't. Very risky, and as likely to blow up in your face as succeed, but succeed they did, on occasion
When teams employed high pressing against that Barcelona, the result generally was a fantastic game with end-to-end football, but a Barcelona win at the end nevertheless. Barcelona was really quick in exploiting the high line of the adversary's defense. That Barcelona team pressed better than anyone else, their pressure without the ball could be really insane and fantastically well coordinated.
One fantastic example of this is the Barcelona 5-1 victory away against Espanyol in December 2010. A marvelous football game with Espanyol, coached by Pocchetino, playing a very high line and suffocating pressing. Barcelona finished the first half with 58% of ball possession. Espanyol played some great football and had some great chances. But Barcelona was still brilliant throughout the game overall. In the end, Barcelona's high line and team overall were able to press even more than Espanyol and create far more chances.
Barcelona 3-1 Villarreal in November 2010 is also another fantastic example. Villarreal was great, pressed much, created great chances and was fearless against Barcelona, but in the end Barcelona was still clearly superior in all regards.
I also recommend looking for the first half of Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona in 2011, UCL's Round of 16, First leg. Arsenal started the game extremely well, pressing Barcelona very high and creating great chances. But after the first 10 minutes, Barcelona settled in the game and often made Arsenal chase the shadows throughout the rest of the first half, Arsenal hopelessly trying and pressing to take the ball from Barcelona to no avail, while Barcelona's own high line and insane pressing was taking the ball from Arsenal all the time.
To truly stifle that Barcelona team, the best option was always sitting very deep and look for speedy counter-attacks.
https://v-s.mobi/fc-barcellona-vs-villareal-full-match-13-11-2010-hd-1:42:59
Please, watch the video above from 39:15 to 41:15. The way that Barcelona makes Arsenal chase hopelessly chase the ball, Barcelona's quick passing and movement in very tight spaces, truly toying with Arsenal, during two ininterrupted minutes is out of this world!
wow Thanks for that brilliant post, i'll check those games. I'll add that in our game against Barca in the final, the first one, we also did ok for 10 or so minutes we were on top, and then... We were all over them with aggression and pace but they weathered the storm well and once they scored there was no coming back.
For all the talk about the current United team and how our heads drop when we concede, that is exactly what happened in that game. It still hurts to be honest.
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One of my favorite passes ever! It must be at least top 5 in any list of Xavi's greatest passes! Godly through ball!
One fascinating thing about Xavi is how he is the personification of tiki-taka and possession football in a player. Messi was by far the best player of that marvelous Barcelona team, but Xavi was the maximum symbol, the one player that truly personified the playing style and philosophy of Barcelona. Alongside Iniesta, but personifying more the team's playing style and philosophy, he was the main star of Spain's greatest era ever. That is his biggest legacy. This is unlike the Ajax and Holland of the 70s, in which Cruyff was by far the best player, the star and the personification of total football.