Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983
Xavi has never, and never will be asked to dominate a midfield on his own. He has always played with guys like Iniesta, Toure, Keita, Busquets and Alonso, all of which help him a great deal on the pitch.
To compare Xavi to Zidane is a null argument. Zidane in '98 carried the French attack himself as back then the attack was very weak compared to the rest of the squad. In 2006, Zidane again essentially carried the French team to the World cup final, as the whole team was poor. Xavi, whilst world class and undeniably influential, has never had that much responsibility on his shoulders. Since his status in the game grew, he has always played with a lot of quality players. In Barca, he's always had Dinho, Villa, Messi, Iniesta, Toure, Busquets, Henry, Ibra etch around him. In Spain, Villa, Torres, Iniesta, Alonso, Fabregas (sometimes) etc.
Xavi has definitely not surpassed Zidane and Pirlo imo. I've already debated about Pirlo and Xavi elsewhere on the forum, and Zidane I personally think was superior in pretty much every aspect. Don't get me wrong, Xavi is a brilliant player and worthy of being called an all time great, but not THE greatest.
I don't have a preference for the greatest CM ever, individuals are too unique and varied to be labelled as such.
Most of my points on Xavi are covered above. I don't really disagree with you.
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