Xavi: "If I were a fan, I'd be enjoying this team"

Barcelona player Xavi gave an interview to Catalan newspaper La Vanguardía.





Is there a reason why the fans aren't filling the stadium?
I think that it might be because of the economic crisis, and also because of the scheduling of games because all the games are televised. To play any better than we're currently playing is difficult, and we have plenty of reason for fans to come...

You can't play better?
No, it's not that, I'm saying that the football that Pep is giving is fantastic for the team. There's offense, pressure, teamwork with movements and circulation of the ball. If I were a fan, I'd be enjoying this.

How much does Guardiola contribute in your growth as a player?
A lot. It's funny, because people wanted me to "face" him and match him playing wise, yet he has always been helping me. He helped boost myself in many ways. He likes me very much and he told me that. We have a good relationship, we're not friends and we won't have dinner together, but we have a good harmony. I also like him very much and I have a soft spot for him because he has always helped me. Maybe the comparisons between us helped because I always had to push myself. I'm hot-headed, but I always push myself. His presence has always helped. When I leave training I leave with an illusion, with some brutal energy, something that I owe to him.

This hasn't happened before?
It's just that ambitions were refreshed and in the past two years, they were a bit lost because there wasn't such a level of demand. With Pep, Barca wins a lot because he's a good person and loves the club.

Was it difficult to shine individually while the team had two bad seasons?
It was hard because you want both the team and yourself personally to do good. When you play incredibly and you don't feel happy it's because there are no titles and it was all for nothing. On the contrary, in the Euro, feeling involved, doing a good job and winning.... that's the best. It's what we have to do this year.

Will this team be doing that all year?
It's hard, because every year you have two or three weeks that you spend badly. It hasn't happened yet and we'll do what we can to prevent it, and hopefully we don't have to suffer, but the dynamic that we've had is incredible because we're into the game since the first minute.

Which squad do you look up to?
The Barca "dream team". Everybody played marvelously. I saw how Eusebio and Amor thought, the ones that didn't think too hard, or Pep and Bakero. It was solid football, like "bam-bam". Nobody slowed it down. Only Laudrup, and that was when the stadium stood up and watched. You enjoyed those European nights. That football mentality was impressive.

In the Copa del Rey, Guardiola wanted the most difficult rival possible and you got it. What about the Champions League?
In the Euro we saw that we won defeating Italy, Russia, and Germany. Almost all of those were once world champions and and that has a lot of merit. If we get Chelsea, then I guess that's how things will be.

It feels like there is no team that can overcome Barca.
Our philosophy has made us better than our rivals, but only until now. We play hard in any stadium, we pressure, and we don't allow ourselves to slip.

There's not long until the clash with Real Madrid. Do you understand what's happening with them?
Yes. What happens is that we're doing very well. It's like a pendulum, because they aren't doing too bad. They're only nine points away. It's more of an instinct in which it's natural to compare the two teams, but be aware that Madrid hasn't sunk and we shouldn't think of them as dead because they are just as good recovering.

Translated by: AL


This is the second and last part of this interview. Read the first part here:

Xavi: "I owe everything to my teammates"