Xavi Hernández(I)

Xavier Hernández Creus , known as Xavi, is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Barcelona. Widely considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xavi was renowned for his passing, vision, ball retention, and positioning.

Xavi joined La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at age 11, and made his first-team debut against Mallorca in August 1998. In all, he played 767 official matches, a former club record-now held by Lionel Messi-and scored 85 goals. Xavi is the first player in the club's history to play 150 European and FIFA Club World Cup matches combined. With Barcelona, Xavi won eight La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles. Xavi came third in the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year, followed by third place for its successor award, the FIFA Ballon d'Or, in 2010 and 2011. In 2011, he was runner up to Messi for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. In 2015, he departed Barcelona for Al Sadd, where he won four trophies before retiring in 2019. He is one of the few recorded players to have made over 1,000 professional career appearances.

Following retirement, it was announced in May 2019 that Xavi would take over as manger of Al Sadd on a two-year contract. Over the course of the 97 days he was in charge, spanning two and a half years, Xavi led the club to win 7 trophies, including the coveted Qatar Cup in the Qatar Stars League. In November 2021, it was announced Xavi would return to his former club Barcelona as the new manager replacing Ronald Koeman, on contract until June 2024. At the time, the club was struggling both competitively and economically. However, after a difficult first few months, Xavi revitalized the club and turned around Barcelona's form with the implementation of structure and new guidelines, while also playing a vital role in the signing of new players to strengthen the squad. When Xavi first took charge, the club was in ninth position in LaLiga, but by the end of the 2021-22 season, he led Barcelona to a second-placed finish.

Xavi continued to succeed in his role as manager during the 2022 summer transfer window by orchestrating the signing of world-renowned footballers, such as Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Koundé, Andreas Christensen, and Franck Kessié. In January 2023, Barcelona won their first title under Xavi, following a 3-1 victory against Real Madrid in the Supercopa de España Final. Xavi would go on to win the 2022-23 LaLiga with Barcelona after amassing an astonishing 88 points in 33 games, sitting 13 points above second-placed Atlético Madrid. Xavi is now regarded by many as a hero within the club for taking charge when Barcelona was arguably at one of the club's lowest points and quickly achieving extraordinary success as a manger in a short period of time.