Is Xavi the best midfielder of this era?

When I started supporting Barcelona, one of the reasons for my love for the club was our unreal midfield and the joy it gave me when I saw Xavi play, which cannot be explained in words.

I have been watching football for more than ten years and I have seen amazing midfielders running the game because of their unreal footballing intelligence and technical abilities, and Xavi is the best midfielder I have ever seen.

My personal love for Xavi

I am more fascinated by midfielders than forwards so I basically see football as a midfield game, where the team whose midfield brings the best balance for attack and defence is the superior one and for Barcelona, especially during the Guardiola Era, it was Xavi who brought that balance.

He wasn't the greatest of dribblers according to most people but as I see the game, he never needed to dribble a lot because he was already one step ahead of others. My favorite footballer, Xavi still represents La Masia, the kids in Masia look at Xavi and the way he made it to the very top.

An inspiration for millions

He is an example for those who want to be a footballer. It wasn't easy for Xavi, he was termed as trash by the Catalan media, but the Barcelona board believed in him and kept him.

After some years, Xavi reached a level which no other midfielder reached in his generation. La Masia kids still talk about Xavi and the way he made it despite the tough circumstances and he is an inspiration for them.

For me, the greatest Spanish footballer ever and the greatest midfielder of this generation. The way he managed space and time was unreal. Xavi mastered the art of Total Football, half touches - the Mig Toc, and had everything you need to play for Barcelona.

As Pep Guardiola once said, Xavi was the first man on his team sheet and he was the player whose presence was the most important in the dressing room.

Well, as Jose Etxeberria said ' Others can move their team, but I have only ever seen one player, who can move twenty-two players on the pitch as he wishes, to his rhythm and that player was Xavi.'.