Barcelona's midfielder Xavi Hernandez gestures during a press conference
at the Sports Centre FC Barcelona Joan Gamper in Sant Joan Despi, near
Barcelona on May 21, 2015. Xavi confirmed that he will end his 17-year
playing career with the Catalans at the end of the season to join Qatari
side Al Sadd. PHOTO | JOSEP LAGO |
AFP
BARCELONA
Barcelona's most
decorated player of all-time, Xavi Hernandez, announced on Thursday he
will bring to an end a stellar 17-year playing career with the Catalan
giants at the end of the season.
The 35-year-old will
follow in former international teammate Raul's footsteps by joining
Qatari side Al Sadd in a major coup for the domestic football in a
country set to host the 2022 World Cup.
Yet, before
bidding farewell to his homeland for the Middle East, Xavi has two more
titles to add to his collection of 23 trophies with the Copa del Rey and
Champions League finals to come.
A fitting tribute
will be paid to the man who has worn the Barca shirt more than any other
on Saturday as the Blaugrana celebrate their La Liga title at home to
Deportivo la Coruna.
However, it is even more apt that
the midfielder that has proved so decisive on the biggest stage for club
and country over the past two decades will say farewell on the biggest
stage.
The Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao
will be his final game at the Camp Nou on May 30 before he hopes to
claim a fourth Champions League title against Juventus in Berlin a week
later.
Win both and Barca will become the first club to
win a treble of league, Cup and Champions League for the second time.
It will also be a second for Xavi, having been at the heart of Pep
Guardiola's treble-winning side in 2008/09.
It
could have been very different. Benched for the title decider against
Atletico Madrid last season as Barca missed out on a major trophy for
the first time in six years and the final two matches of Spain's
disastrous World Cup defence in Brazil, he seemed set for a move to
Qatar 12 months ago.
"Last summer it would have been
too early. I was downhearted with two big disappointments at the World
Cup and here at Barca," he said.
"Now we are capable and have the opportunity to make history. I am very happy to have stayed."
FINAL CURTAIN
Convinced
to stay on for a final year by former teammate Luis Enrique, his
illustrious Barca career has had the final curtain it deserved as
demonstrated by his tears at clinching an eighth Liga title when the
Catalans exacted revenge on Atletico last weekend.
Xavi
was also an integral part of the Spain side that swept all before them
in winning back-to-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012, as well
as the country's first World Cup in 2010.
His
presence wasn't just felt on the field in his metronomic passing as
Spain's flock of mini maestros led by he and sidekick Andres Iniesta
gave birth to the technique reliant "tiki-taka" style at a time when the
game was morphing into the age of the super-athlete.
Xavi's
success with the national team started well before Vienna in 2008 as he
won the World Youth Championship in 1999 where a friendship with Real
Madrid captain Iker Casillas first began.
Together
they brought a solidarity to the Spain squad from both sides of the
Barca and Madrid divide to overcome the tag of perennial underachievers,
even after the incendiary events of four El Clasico clashes in 18 days
in 2011 as Jose Mourinho attempted to burn bridges between the two
squads.
"I don't think there will be another player
like him. He is an unique, inimitable player who has been instrumental
to the club and the national team," Iniesta said on Tuesday.
Fortunately for Xavi, Barcelona and Spanish football as a whole, he will leave as he deserves to; as a winner.
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