Xavi recently gave an in-depth interview to Indian podcast host Prakhar Gupta. In the fifth part of this exclusive interview, Xavi discussed topics including "tiki-taka not being an internal team term, positional transformation, the conflict between Ibrahimovic and Guardiola, the 2009 sextuple, and the 2011 Champions League final".

Interesting. So the term "tiki-taka" was often discussed in the dressing room back then? For example, was there emphasis on one-touch passing and rapid progression forward?

No, "tiki-taka" was more of a media creation. What we discussed internally was passing, controlling the ball with a single touch, passing to the supporting foot or dominant foot, "the pass must have enough weight, go to the right foot, stop the ball cleanly and look up to assess the situation". These were our fundamental principles. And "rondos"—every training session always started with rondos, 7 versus 2, 6 versus 2. Errors or loss of possession were not allowed. Whoever lost possession went into the middle. That was our basic logic.

So your mission in that team was to find spaces and provide incisive passes. You were the heartbeat of the team, not a defensive midfielder, but a midfield orchestrator controlling the ball, maintaining possession, and distributing forward. Your instinct was to identify all the spaces on the pitch.

Exactly, and the decisive pass, especially the final ball on the edge of the box. Because early in my career, my position was actually more defensive. But then Rijkaard opened my eyes: "No, Xavi, you're perfectly capable of playing as a number 8 or even a number 10, to make that final pass and play a more decisive role in the attacking third". At first, I even resisted a bit. I told Rijkaard: "Frank, I'm not comfortable in this position, I like staying deep and overseeing the entire match". He said: "No, Xavi, you need to control the game and provide the final pass. Stop the ball, play through balls, and make late runs into the box to shoot". This move forward completely changed my life and my career.

Was Ibrahimovic before or during this period?

Zlatan was with the team for only one year, the 2009-10 season. We won the Spanish Super Cup and La Liga, but we couldn't reclaim the Champions League. We were eliminated by Inter in the semifinals.

Inter then beat Bayern in the final.

Yes, at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Yes, 2-0, with Milito scoring twice.

You really do know football!

Pretty professional, right? (Laughs) I remember watching that match. What exactly happened with Zlatan at Barcelona? Because back then he seemed out of place, and later he made quite a few sarcastic comments.

As for Zlatan, we actually had an excellent personal relationship in the dressing room. The real problem was between him and Pep. Pep relied heavily on Zlatan for most of the season, but in the final three months he benched him for several key matches and deployed Bojan instead. That's how the rift began. Then Guardiola made it clear to him: "You're no longer in the club's plans, you need to find another club". That's essentially what happened.

But Zlatan has a very strong personality, doesn't he? Was he like that in the dressing room too?

I like Zlatan a lot. Yes. I like him because he's incredibly witty and funny. In training, he never stopped talking, always cracking jokes and making everyone laugh. We were very close; now he's back in Milan, working in the Milan management, and we're still in touch. The conflict absolutely didn't happen within the dressing room, absolutely not.

Tactical incompatibility?

Yes. I have wonderful memories of Zlatan in the dressing room; he was always joking around. Sometimes his thought process was rather wild, but that's Zlatan, you know.

His way of scoring was incredible too, because with him you never knew what impossible position he'd hit the ball from, or where it would go.

Absolutely. Sometimes he was pure genius. Everyone would exclaim: "My God, how did he score that goal! Incredible!" But sometimes he'd inexplicably miss a simple pass; his form fluctuated quite a bit. Still, his talent was absolutely world-class. Two meters tall with that kind of flexibility and ball control, an extraordinarily exceptional superstar.

In 2009, you won every possible trophy. The unprecedented miracle of the "sextuple". Yes. Brother, do you still feel amazed when you think back to that period? It was simply...

Even today, I believe that was the peak year of my career. I was 28 or 29 years old, at the age of complete psychological and experiential maturity. In my view, the ages 28 to 31 or 32 are the golden years for playing football. That's my personal experience as a player; I had an absolute blast playing on the pitch. We won every possible honor, with the national team, with Barcelona, we were unstoppable. Everyone remembers when Villa joined afterward, and we lifted the Champions League trophy again at Wembley in 2011. That was one of the most perfect matches I ever played in my career. That final against Manchester United was a masterpiece. Even toward the end of the match, it felt so easy to win the final. The outsiders initially thought it would be a tough battle, but we controlled the game throughout. We had great respect for Manchester United, but that night our performance was truly far superior to theirs. I clearly remember Sir Alex Ferguson's, Rooney's, and Ferdinand's comments after the match; they admitted frankly: "This is the strongest team we've ever faced, truly at the top of the world".

Sir Alex Ferguson was completely stunned because he witnessed a dominant display across all areas, a team built on solid foundations by a coach who had cultivated it for over a decade. Manchester United was incredibly strong during that period, but to be completely overwhelmed by you in that manner was truly surprising.

Frankly, we were truly invincible that day. Our tactical system and football philosophy showed a decisive difference. Of course, there was also the individual brilliance of top-tier superstars like Messi and Villa in attack. But the core remained the tactical philosophy. We controlled possession, and by deploying Messi as a false nine, we firmly established numerical superiority in midfield. The opposing center-backs didn't dare venture out easily, and we calmly circulated the ball in midfield, creating space. We could have scored even more goals. In that moment, we were truly completely dominant over our opponents.

Tradotto dall'IA.

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