Former Barcelona star, Xavi Hernandez in an interview made some startling confessions. The Spanish star midfielder and Barcelona legend when interviewed said he played against the best in the World.
He named French and Real Madrid legend, Zinedine Zidane popularly called Zizou and Brazilian play maker, Ronaldo Delima as his best competitors. Xavi spent close to 17 years at the Camp Nou before exiting in the 2014/2015 campaign after a highly successful spell. In his final season, Barcelona achieved yet another treble.
The 36 years old mentioned several tough opponents when questioned on the choice of his best competitors. Xavi told the interviewer: “Lots of players but the ones I can’t forget are Ronaldo “the phenomenon,” Luis Figo, Raul, Fernando Hierro, Roberto Carlos, Zidane and in the later years Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil.”
He narrowed the list eventually to two when pressed further. He said: “The best out of all these I would say were Zidane and Ronaldo, the Brazilian.”
Upon sharing this much, the interviewer pressed for his best memory of his long span career whilst in acton for the Catalan giants.
“I have lots of great memories, but the two that stick out the most are the historical matches when we beat Madrid 5-0 and 6-2,” he claimed. As the interview progressed, the star revealed that some African stars had enough substance to feature in the Barcelona team. Quite notably is Leicester City’s forward, Riyad Mahrez.
Mahrez has scored a total of 17 goals with a whopping 11 assists for The Foxes this season. His efforts has helped the team sit atop the English Premier League.
Xavi said: “He is a very good player. He suddenly came to my attention this season, I didn’t know about him before, but this season he has blown up. He has made a name for himself among the top names in the English league and played exceptionally well. Thanks to what he has done for his club, he can now play for any big club in Europe.” “Yeah, why not? He could play for Barcelona in the future,” he added.