Euro 2012 Players to Watch: Xavi of Spain

Few international players have been decorated more than Spain's Xavier Hernandez i Creus—more commonly known throughout the cosmos as Xavi.  

The central midfield playmaker has been with Barcelona for his entire 15-year professional career and has been a key part of the Spanish dynasty that has taken hold of world soccer over the last four years.  Since his first international appearance in 2000-01, he has seen Spain go from Europe's quintessential underachiever to without question the best team in the world.  

In June, he will look to lead the Spaniards to an unprecedented achievement: winning three major internationals in a four-year period.  There are serious questions, however, as to whether or not this can be done.

By the Numbers

Xavi's numbers on the field belie his advanced age—at least, advanced in terms of international soccer.  But the 32-year-old is coming off of one of his most prolific seasons.  

He scored 14 times in all competitions, with 10 of those goals coming in La Liga.  Over the course of his career since being promoted from Barcelona B in 1998, he has played in a whopping 629 matches for Barca in all competitions, scoring 73 times.

In the international game, he's just as prolific.  

With 108 international caps for Spain, Xavi is the third-most capped player in the nation's history and one of only four centurions—although there are at least three players in position to reach that milestone within the next year or so.  He has scored 10 times for his country, including twice in qualifying for Euro 2012, most recently this past September in Spain's 6-0 thrashing of Liechtenstein.

It isn't in on-field stats, but in the accumulation of accolades where Xavi is most impressive.  

He has won more trophies than almost any active player.  He can currently claim winners' medals in La Liga (6), the Copa del Rey (2), Supercopa de Espana (5), UEFA Champions League (3), UEFA Super Cup (2) and the FIFA Club World Cup (2).

Beyond these, he was on the winning Spanish sides in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and in Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland—a tournament in which he was given the Golden Ball as most outstanding player.  

Additionally, he won the 1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup with the Spanish U-20s, as well as the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Individually, he has been the third-place finisher the last two years running in the FIFA Ballon d'Or voting.  He also had third-place finishes in the FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or voting in 2009, the year before the two awards were merged.  

He has made the All-Star team of both Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010, won the Bronze Ball at the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup and the Silver Ball at the 2011 event and has been in both the FIFA/FIFPro and UEFA teams of the year the last four years running.

What to Expect

Much the same as always, expect for Xavi to key the Spanish attack with his vision, passing and near-perfect ball control, as well as being their key man on set pieces.  

He is the man that makes tiki-taka work.

There is, however, a danger for both Xavi and Spain in general.  Frequently playing deep into major tournaments—as both Barca and Spain have been wont to do over the last four to six years—has recently looked to be finally taking its toll on some of Spain's key players.

Xavi is no exception.  Since the beginning of the 2006-07 season, Xavi has played in 50 or more games each year for Barcelona.  In three of those six years, he played at least 14 on the international circuit.

The actual numbers come out to an average of 64 games per year—a truly astonishing number.  The grind of this has started to show in the Barca players that dominate the Spanish core.  

They were held goalless in the San Siro by a flawed Milan team in the Champions League quarterfinals, and their loss in the semifinals to Chelsea—suffered when facing the exact same strategy that they had faced against the London team in the 2009 semifinals and had beaten—shows some definite signs that some of Spain's best may simply be too overworked.

It is tough to tell if this fatigue factor will be a major issue at Euro 2012, but if Spain are unable to defend their title this year, exhaustion will certainly be cited as a major factor.

What They Say

In 2008, when announcing Xavi as player of the tournament, UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh said, "Xavi epitomized the Spanish style of play.  He was extremely influential."

Carlo Garganese, writing for Goal.com on the eve of the 2010 UEFA Champions League semifinal between Barcelona and Inter Milan, said of Xavi, "Quite simply the best midfielder in modern football, and one of the greatest 'centre' midfielders of all time."