Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez has rubbished suggestions that he is no longer capable of performing at the highest level.
The Spain maestro remains an integral part of La Blaugrana’s plans, despite his advancing years, and he is adamant that the return to form for many of the side’s underperforming stars, including Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique, has created ‘perfect’ competition within the squad.
“I’ve been hearing that Xavi’s finished for more than four years now, but the truth is I'm fine. Everyone has an opinion, and you can either play well or badly, but I feel great,” he maintained in his interview with Sport earlier today.
“I’ve been summoned to all matches except the Copa tie [against Huesca], and I've played in all the big games except against PSG. I feel useful and important.
I like [Eric Abidal’s] return to Barca. He deserves it. It gives a very good illustration of us all. He’s always been a happy guy.
“It’s not just about the Messi-Suarez-Neymar trident as Pedro is scoring goals, even Munir and Sandro.
“The main front three are beasts, though. Neymar is performing brutally, you'll see Luis Suarez [become] increasingly prominent and [Lionel] Messi has returned to his best.
“Marc Bartra and Jordi Alba have been spectacular. I see 80 or 90 percent of things being positive, but only the negatives are highlighted and it gives us a bad taste.
“The only difference is that Real Madrid are only one point ahead in the League with a game in hand.
“[Gerard] Pique is very important to us because he’s a very competitive player. When he wants to be, he’s one of the best centre-backs in the world.
“Everyone has ups and downs, who hasn’t that happened to in life? But here, everything you do is under the microscope, everything is criticised and analysed, and surely at some point you will struggle.
“The competition here is perfect, extraordinary. The veterans have to give more because they’re guaranteed places in the team, while the younger players have their share of game time, too.
“Look at Bartra against PSG. It’s clear that you need to do a lot to make the team, but the standard is very high.”
