Winter Mercato 2011

Originally Posted by mzk57

Don't get me wrong, I respect you opinion, but how can you say Zidane is better than Xavi? If Xavi has world class players around him, then so did Zidane. Deschamp, Vieira, Makelele will always be remembered as among the best DM of the last 2 decades. Then there were the likes of Petit, Pires, & Ribbery. And of-course the partnership of Henry & Trezeguet upfront. You can't ask for more than that. I personally think Zidane is over ratted to some extent with all due respect to him. Xavi is slightly better than him & more importantly his consistency is amazing. I used to see Real Madrid matches almost every weekend when they had Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo etc & honestly, Zidane's last 3 years at Real (out of 5) produced nothing special. He was just hot & cold, hit & miss.

As for Pirlo, it simple, both are 30 years old & look at the difference between them. Pirlo's period was 2002-07, its over now. Pirlo is hardly doing any good these days & Xavi is producing match winning battles on every weekend. You see how simply a clown like Par Ji Sung out played Pirlo last year. It was embarrassing to see. Have you ever seen any one man marking Xavi completely out of the game? Be honest & I am sure your answer will be 'no'. On the other hand, all the opposition coach has to do is to man-mark Pirlo & it then he looks like a lost kid on the field. A true great midfielder shouldn't be man marked that easily & successfully out of the game.

My point is simple, if the list of best midfielders is made, Xavi should be at least above Zidane & Pirlo

Zidane in '98 didn't have any real world class attacking talents with him, and this was my point, he had much more responsibility in that side than Xavi has ever had. In 2006, France were a shambolic team and Zidane took the responsiblity to essentially manage the side in the world cup. Both of these teams had some great players, but without Zidane it is very unlikely either team would have had it's success. Xavi is a consistent player, but to compare his consistency to Zidane's latter years in the Galacticos is a pointless argument, especially when you consider the state and differences of their respective sides. It's difficult to compare 2 players from different eras who played different roles, but from an individual perspective, I see Zidane as a superior player to Xavi, although Xavi fits better into the current Barca set up than Zidane would.

Pirlo and Xavi also shouldn't be compared. As Geo said it's difficult to compare 2 players in different positions. More pressing is also Pirlo has been playing in a poor Milan side for a few years now, normally in a role that's left him exposed to opposition counters. I have absoloutely no doubt that Xavi in the same position would suffer just as much (if not more). To say Pirlo isn't doing good anymore is an incorrect statement. Pirlo, as an individual is still as useful as ever and this is evident in his statistics when he plays. Man Utd's success in marking out him last season was a weakness in our collective system, and not something that can and should be attributed to Pirlo alone. Xavi has never been put in a position like this and therefore we never see him suffer this way. It's not just down to Xavi that he's successful, but a big aspect must be attributed to the fact that he plays in a superb team which works well within it's system. Same goes for Pirlo, who always played within a system with good players at his best. This all means we have to compare Xavi and Pirlo as I did Xavi and Zidane, in their individual skills and qualities. In this respect, I really don't feel Xavi is at all superior to Pirlo.