Xavi 550, Part 1/4 [English subs]

Oh, Ariadna is definitely here.
Reporter: She came?
Yep.
Xavi: Alright.
Reporter: Damn.
Xavi: What a day.
Xavi: How long have you guys been waiting?
A while
Xavi: How are you?
Joaquim: Good, you?
Xavi: Very good, very good.
Joaquim: Very good.
Xavi: How are you?
Àlex & Òscar: Good good.
Xavi: How are you? You eventually managed to escape?
Ariadna: Yeahhh.
Reporter: Has it been a long time since you've seen eachother?
Everyone: No
Xavi: We see each other almost every day
Reporter: You told me you would tell me . . .
Ariadna: I know
Reporter: Aren't you ready to eat?
Xavi: Well, I've already eaten so you should eat
Xavi: Well, are we going inside or what?
Eating with the family
Joaquim: For us it's something very important, the norm; it's nothing extraordinary
We were just saying that we get together a lot. Look, next Sunday we'll all be here . . .
Xavi: Oh yeah, I didn't know that
We'll celebrate Ariadna's saint's day
Ariadna: No, I still haven't told you what day it'll be
Joaquim: What happens is that we're always on the topic of Xavi. If he plays Sunday . . .
If he plays on Saturday, if it can be, if it can't be
Xavi: It's that I'm the only one who works
Joaquim: We've celebrated Alex and Xavi's birthdays, the grandchildren's, my wife's, mine
Well, it's priceless
The truth is that the main thing is football, the professional world
And we like everything about it.
We're all footballers, athletes, and we like it a lot
But being with the family, that's personal satisfaction
Xavi: This is my team. It's what gives me strength for everything. Football is my professional world,
Like my dad says, it's another world
You have to be yourself out there
But really, I feel really natural and who I am as Xavi,
It's right here with my siblings, my parents. It's when I feel best.
It’s the same for all of them too. It's not just me the footballer,
But even if Óscar were the player, or Ariadna or Álex, it'd be the same for them. We're a team.
Reporter: It's almost your home
Xavi: It's been so many years
Reporter: What about the first day you came?
Wow, the first day, it makes you crazy
Oh, look at the new turf. It's good . . .
Against Madrid, the stadium is so full there's room for anything.
It's incredible.
And the people, so excited,
They're going nuts that day,
You also get the feeling that the people in the crowds are nervous,
When things aren't going well, when Madrid is on the attack,
You feel that inside you. When you're so culé,
And you live it, all week, the days prior, when people talk about it . . .
That feeling of nervousness is strongest the day you play against Madrid.
The way I felt after the game was incredible. Fantastic.
Definite superiority, it's amazing to feel that way on the pitch,
To enjoy a match like that, it's priceless.
It happened all of a sudden, I'd just returned from vacation and got a call,
saying I had to go to Mallorca to train, and I was expecting to sit the bench,
and Van Gaal takes me aside and says that I'm starting.
The day before, I mean, that night I couldn't get a wink of sleep, like "Wow,
I'm here in the Spanish Supercup, as a starter,
This is the moment I'e been waiting for since I could breathe.
And of course I was extremely nervous.
I've dreamed about my debut, but the thing is, I didn't dream that I'd score a goal!
But that's what happened and it was awesome.
Ricard Pruna [team doctor]: I think he was 17 when we met in the youth system
and we made the jump to the first team together with Van Gaal as coach,
which was, let's say, a tough and strict beginning.
Carles Naval [FCB delegate]: It's obviously hard to talk about what he was like, 17 years old
and on the first team, surrounded by stars.
Xavi: I remember back then Abelardo, Zenden and Cocu were extremely helpful,
as well as Luis Enrique and Nadal¦
Naval: Obviously the shaking legs and butterflies are noticed, we can sense them.
Around that time, he went through a hard, no, extremely hard time.
Because, right after training, Xavi went from going to Manchester and getting his Champions League debut,
to coming on Wednesday and Thursday to train. To train, and Van Gaal says to him, “Hey,
tomorrow, you're training with Barça B and play in Onteniente.
But Van Gaal was very demanding
The thing is, for the youngsters, who are just starting out, I mean, you have to be more you have to have an emotional intelligence, be more tactful.
Louis Van Gaal: In the training sessions, I'm more direct.
But also honest. And I can imagine that it's very hard for the players.
But not just for the younger players, but for the older ones as well.
And with the years, I've been grateful, to Van Gaal. And I'm very grateful because he kept me grounded.
. I mean, I go out now with such a natural view of the game that it doesn't matter if I'm playing in the Champions League
in the Champions League semifinals or against Ceuta in the Copa del Rey.
Debut in the Camp Nou
It's the most exciting day of your life. The entire stadium, the audience, everything's new and it's incredible.
Feeling nervous and inferior; everything's new and big.
I remember drawing and not playing a good match.
No, I ended satisfied with the night. But yeah, it's a special feeling.
I've been here since I was very little, you know, and they stuck us in a taxi and they came to get us at school and brought us here,
and since I'm older I come on the train
and my dad comes to pick me up since I'm from Terrassa.
Blas, who still works at the club as a masseuse, came out to pick me up, and I honestly had it easy because I'd get out of school
thirty minutes early at around four thirty or five, and I'd go to practice,
three times a week. You don't realize how privileged you are.
Because there were a lot of us; every year our teammates changed
and every year it was a mess when June was out as practically everyone in the car was gone.
Ví­ctor Valdés: I remember when I was in the Alevin [guppiesâ] or Infantil and Xavi was one of those players
who you'd say was going to end up on the first team.
There are phrases you always hear in the youth system and they drill that idea into us.
There were 7 of us, and at the end of the year thered be five or six who didn't continue.
And there was a lot of drama. But that's football, that's the youth system. Who could get past the bar.
That's Barça, that's the competition. That's why it's so hard here.
The one thing that the older two were missing that Xavi had was being
with Barça from a young age. And being taught what they had been taught.
That's what I think is the main difference
and he had the great fortune to have a man of football, who is Joan Vilá 
who aside from quality that he had, he taught him well.
Joan Vilá  [youth system coach]: It was amazing to see a kid of that age, thirteen, do so many things so well
on a football pitch, like lifting his head when receiving a ball, never losing it.
Óscar: When [Álex and I] were little, we were at a more normal level, but you see Xavi when he was little,
and you say "Damn, he looks like a hell of a footballer."
Óscar: Are you looking at a picture of a kid or of a footballer?
Vilá : He was very fast, he already was mentally…
Óscar: And you see him play and you think "Damn, this kid's really got something!
Vilá : Mental speed in football is often more important than physical speed,
especially in the midfield.
Joaquim: I remember a story from when he was five, no, six, in a match,
when everyone would go after the ball,
and everyone was going after it and everyone was attacking, and he was staying behind,
and I managed to ask him "Xavi, why are you staying back here when you're the best,
Why are you staying here?" And know what he answered? "You know why, Daddy? If everyone's up front
it's easier for the other team to score, so I'm staying back here!"
A six-year-old kid! That's when I knew.
Vilà: There are few kids who have something the others don't,
or even more importantly, that football intelligence
and that innate talent that makes his teammates better players.
All the players that have gone through with Xavi
have climbed in the ranks mostly thanks to Xavi. Without a doubt. They admit that themselves.
Playing with Xavi is a pleasure; you can always find him, he's a great reference on the pitch for any teammate.
Puyol: The first thing I do when I get the ball, when I steal it or when I'm handed it, is find Xavi
and it's not just me, it's the whole team.
Valdés: You can give him any kind of ball