Xavi Hernandez already has a lifetime’s worth of experiences for Barcelona against Manchester United. However vital Thursday’s Europa League tie against Erik Ten Hag’s team at Camp Nou might seem for the Blaugranas‘ immediate future, it will simply be another set of colourful, passionate images for Xavi’s already bulging scrapbook.
The saturnine Catalan made the first of his 151 Champions League appearances at Old Trafford in a rip-roaring 3-3 draw with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side nearly 25 years ago. He thought long and hard about accepting United’s offer to join them a couple of seasons later when he felt unwanted at Camp Nou and, of course, having lost the 2008 semifinal to United, he then produced two wins, and two assists, in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals against Fergie’s teams in Rome and at Wembley.
There were a couple of attempts at prising the brilliant midfielder, nicknamed “La Machina” (“the Machine”) by his teammates, away from Camp Nou, including by Bayern Munich, who thought they’d captured him in 2014. But it’s the temptation of that offer to become the heartbeat of Ferguson’s United that he’s been most frank about.
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Back in 2011, just before I wrote my book “Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team In the World,” Xavi told me about it. “There was a long time when I genuinely thought about accepting United’s offer. I needed a change of scenery and things were not going well for me at Barcelona.
“I have always felt a real attachment to English football and Manchester United would be ‘my club’ there. For a long chunk of my career, when it looked to people like I was Pep Guardiola’s successor in midfield, I was made to feel, by some, like an outsider, like a bad guy for taking over from the legendary captain.
“We are not good at handling change here [at Barca]. I hated all that debate about ‘me and Pep,’ and Louis van Gaal [then-Barcelona manager] wasn’t particularly tactful to put an 18-year-old kid through it. What eventually made the difference is that I’m as stubborn as a mule: I thought about moving to United, but I dug my heels in. I said to myself ‘I need to prove myself here!'”
Those two Champions League finals, in which Barcelona so comprehensively defeated United, would give birth to a couple of the ultra-quotable Ferguson’s best, most remembered expressions. Aside from his growl that Pep Guardiola’s Barca could “pass you to death,” the legendary Scot pointed out that a “mesmerising” midfield of Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta — plus Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, David Villa, Pedro, Thierry Henry or Samuel Eto’o at their peak — would “get you on that carousel and make you dizzy with their passing!”
Before Sunday’s 1-0 win, Barcelona hadn’t “lost” the overall ball possession to any team. Villarreal won that particular duel with 54% of the ball, though the Yellow Submarine had more passes, and more accurate passes, than Xavi’s team as well.
Back when Barcelona regularly put Manchester United to the sword, any such stats would be the cause of wailing, gnashing of teeth and beating of chests among fans. Now, with an 11-point lead at the top of the table (and 17 games left) plus the Spanish Supercopa already safely stashed in the trophy cabinet, it barely raises an eyebrow because Xavi’s team is winning.
After the Villarreal match, Xavi said “we are in a good, perhaps perfect, moment in defence, the intensity the high pressure.” Zero mention of possession or passing, or indeed anything about use of the ball.
Instead, Xavi was all about attitude, mentality and about what to do when Barcelona don’t have the ball. “We are in the best moment since I came here as a coach,” he said, adding that “now we have to change the mentality for the Europa League … we have to show our best level against Manchester United.”
I wonder: does he mean that against a team used to being pressed, and that is delighted to be asked to win physical, aerial duels, living for these athletic, aggressive contests every weekend in the Premier League, the “change” Xavi might be referring to could involve moving Barcelona’s approach back, a little, towards the Guardiola idea?
Should we expect Barcelona to take the ball and pass the ball at Camp Nou on Thursday? We’ll just have to wait and see.
