Xavi: "How did this happen?!"

Barcelona player Xavi gave an interview to Catalan sports paper Sport.




2008 has been a magical year for you. Despite Barcelona not having had a good season, you won the European championships with the national team and you got a lot of recognition, also by the media. Could you imagine that at the start of the year?
I'm always positive. I want things to go well and that's why I work hard. You always hope for the best and it has really been extraordinary. Being optimistic and working with modesty helps me, because like people say: the harder you work, the more luck you have. It's true that Barça hadn't a good season as a team, for different reasons, but later there was the Euro, I was voted best player... I really have a great feeling looking back at 2008.

The problem is that the higher you climb, the harder you can fall...
Of course, but you can look at the bottle being half full or half empty. I always see a full bottle. Now I want to continue making progress. If last year was good, I want this one to be even better. You'll always have negative people who say that if one year was good, the next will be bad, but that's not my point of view. This year it's possible to win trophies with Barcelona. It's also true that the media have kind of discovered me, but that's the least important thing for me. I just want to be focused on the game, together with my teammates, the coach and the fans. I might be in my best moment so far, but I hope the best is yet is come.

For 2009 to be a better year, the team shoudl win trophies...
At a club level, that's my biggest desire.

This season can be compared to the 2005-2006 season?
Well, I don't know. But the sensations are very good, in that sense it can be compared. As for the rest, the teams cannot be compared, the coaches either, the dynamics... But the feeling I have since June, how the team is working... You notice something has changed and that this team can do great things. Although we should continue to be aware of some details, we didn't yet have a bad series, we almost didn't lose a single game. We've done spectacular so far but the bad moments can come and that's when we'll have to be united. This year, there's an excellent atmosphere in squad, with some very nice details, people who are really keeping the squad together. I think there's a great harmony between all players. It can't get better.

It's being said that the 2005-2006 team had more quality, but that this year's team has more group spirit.
Because of my own experience, I don't like the comparisons that are being made in the world of football. I have been compared with Guardiola and Iniesta and I didn't like that at all. Comparisons never lead to something. It's impossible to compare players or teams. The Dream Team for example won four league titles, our team didn't yet win anything, so all those comparisons are ridiculous. But we have to stay positive and think that we can get there, why not.

How does the team feels about Pep Guardiola getting the credits for how things are going?
Pep is a very enthusiastic person, but it's logical that the talent of the team is also decisive. When you deal with a group, there has to be order and discipline. He has established that and the players are following him. If someone stops doing that, the group won't let that happen. Everybody has adapted very well to the new rules and we're all involved in the new project, with renewed desire and motivation... Only a few months ago, we were eighteen points behind Madrid and now we're twelve points ahead and you ask yourself "how did this happen?!". You have new motivations because there are people who have caused this.

How do you see Guardiola?
Guardiola is a football guy and a great person, who transmits his way of seeing the game, his passion for this sport and his enthusiasm to everybody on a daily basis. It's someone who is totally convinced about his ideas. Order and discipline were of course necesary but that's only the tip of the iceberg of what Pep has been doing.


This was the first part of this interview. The next parts will follow in the coming days with Xavi talking -among other things- about the global crisis and his teammates Eto'o and Messi.

Read more:
Transfer history: Xavi was close to Milan
Crosas: "The Masia marks your life"
OFFICIAL: Xavi renews until 2014