Cruyff’s Corner: The Two Sides of Xavi6

This is a featured article from Cryuff translated by the people at www.totalbarca.com.

Football is just like any other profession, there are times when you enjoy yourself and others were you have to sacrifice yourself. In less than a week, in two games, Xavi Hernandez has experienced it all. Xavi’s life against Almeria could be labeled as harsh. Against Armenia he enjoyed himself. In one of those games, he was overwhelmed, they chased him everywhere, that it wouldn’t seem strange to me if Xavi would have asked Chico for the bar of soap in the shower. In the other game, Xavi got fed up with receiving and giving, receiving and assisting. That’s how the 0-1 from Cesc came to be. It was that same Xavi, but against Armenia nobody marked him, and against Almeria he couldn’t find an escape route.

To be a midfield, Xavi is not accustomed to have a man literally stuck on him. A forward, of course. And what a forward does in this case, Xavi could not do. In the match against Almeria, Xavi got tired and surprised from the beginning, and got fed up till the end—he couldn’t resolve it: that is to say he was not able to get away with positional movements that good forwards have in order to escape their mark. In other words, it’s a case of getting away; being preoccupied with the score, and being chased all around, Xavi had to have another player that could occupy the space left behind him. Though acknowledge this, that without touching the ball, you can play really well, but when you have the ball and you’re constantly being pressured and chased around, now thats difficult. But it’s indispensible what movements one makes on the field –Xavi in this case – goes accompanied with another good movement on the pitch, that of his rival. In cases like this it’s crucial to have Messi aware of what’s going on. The plays should come from the back to him, preferably from the center. Hence, the more football and technical like it is the better. I’m sure you can see that technicality in Pique, a defender that likes to go forward at times. Overall, I’m sure that Guardiola moved some pieces here and there, giving instruction onto what to fix and what to deconstruct from Hugo Sanchez’ orders, which were: “STICK TO XAVI, AND MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T TOUCH THE BALL.” At least, the order didn’t have the word “KICK” in it.

The Magic Formula

Would another team repeat this? Sure, some will try it. But knowing Guardiola, recognizing his obsession of controlling every little detail, he’s waiting for another team to repeat what Hugo Sanchez did. Certainly before and after the match, Hugo thought about how to stop Barca. Although how passionately it may be to play against this team, every opponent out there will try to figure out how to stop them. They will try to figure out what that secret magic formula is that would ultimately deconstruct the azulgranas.

Yes, there are teams out there – some more, some less , that stop playing their football in order to play something different. This happens when they face Barcelona. And when you stop doing what you do on a regular basis, you’re bound to confront with problems. Because what you win on one side of the pitch, you may lose in another. Defensively, Almeria annihilated Xavi, but the price they paid was too high. Offensively it didn’t exist. And above all it was worthless because in the end, they lost.

If Guardiola and his players already have much work to fulfill, such as training, and practicing on the football field, then surely Madrid will have much more work to do. Manuel Pellegrini must not understand anything. On one hand, he receives much criticism from here and there that his team doesn’t play football as Barca does. Well, realistically that’s impossible. There are so many different players – some better, some worse – but in each team the final result just has to be different. I don’t know how each team will close the season, but I’m sure that they will do it in very distinct ways, each one according to its style, its philosophy.

Replacing Ronaldo

Even if it has famous names or high level football players in its team, Real Madrid is full of new faces both on the field and on the bench. And that’s very difficult to fit together. Madrid lost against Sevilla. So what? Anybody can loose there. Sincerely, after 6 League games and 2 Champions matches, people now start to complain. Did they lose in Sevilla because they lacked Cristiano Ronaldo? Because of that rule of thumb, will Madrid begin to lose matches where the Portuguese lacks? I don’t believe so. For if I were a Madrid player, I would long for this squad to last at the most minimum. And for that sole reason, I would try harder. And if that plus is not given from a single player, then the rest of them surely will give it, and at the end the beneficiary would be collective.

Thats what being a football player is about. To unite forces and double the reinforcements when things are going wrong. Or when it comes to play with the national squad. And with an excellent result of course. This is what politics surely don’t perform. Today rivals don’t exist every Sunday, but every day of the week. On the other hand, Politicians don’t recognize their rival, their only rival: the crisis. Sadly the day hasn’t come where each would put on the same national shirt to play their most important game.