Source: Daily_Mail
Andres and the X-factor in Barcelona's midfield are a huge threat to United
Forget Lionel Messi, Sir Alex Ferguson believes Andres Iniesta and Xavi pose the biggest threat to his chances of a third European Cup. PETE JENSON analyses Barcelona's remarkable midfield duo ...
When Barcelona's then captain Pep Guardiola first clapped eyes on youth team midfielder Xavi Hernandez, he turned to a team-mate and said: 'This kid will retire me.'
Several years later, when Guardiola was playing alongside Xavi in Barca's midfield, they watched a teenager called Andres Iniesta.
Guardiola turned, this time to Xavi, and said: 'And this kid is going to retire the both of us.'
Guardiola's proteges are now the 'tick' and the 'tock' of Barcelona's clockwork midfield and the biggest problem occupying Sir Alex Ferguson as his Manchester United side attempt to retain the European Cup.
'I don't think Iniesta and Xavi have ever given the ball away in their lives,' he said recently. 'They get you on that carousel and they can leave you dizzy.'
Iniesta, 25, was the hero of Barca's injury time semi-final triumph at Stamford Bridge.
'Normally Andres would never have shot from there,' says Xavi of the away goal that sent his side to Rome. 'But he just hit it and bang! I was screaming for the pass, it was a good job he took no notice. Where are the idiots now who said we could never play together?'
Standing less than 5ft 7in tall and weighing just over 10st, Iniesta was not everyone's idea of the man to complement the similarly statured and even more languid Xavi.
Had those wanting Jose Mourinho to become Barca's new coach got their way then maybe muscle would have won the day. Instead, president Joan Laporta reunited Guardiola with the two players who had grown up in the club's La Masia school of excellence, where his poster adorns a wall.
Xavi, 28, started training with Barcelona aged 10. Iniesta was spotted at 12 playing for hometown side Albacete in Spain's international youth tournament just outside Madrid.
Barca scout Albert Benaiges and a large TV audience could not help but be impressed with the little No 5 with Andres on his back.
One of Spain's top radio journalists and organiser of the tournament, Jose Ramon de la Morena, remembers: 'What stood out about him was that he never played a bad pass.'
Approached to train with the club, he timidly replied that he would have to ask his dad and after gaining permission, moved 350 miles away from home to La Masia.
Crying himself to sleep at night and learning his trade by day, he set out on a journey that finally took him to first-team football under Louis van Gaal in 2002.
Under Frank Rijkaard in 2006, Iniesta and Xavi were part of the team who did the league and Champions League double, although neither started the final.
Xavi scored Barcelona's fourth goal in their Copa de Rey final win against Athletic Bilbao last week
Xavi was injured and Iniesta came on at half-time to help turn around Arsenal's 1-0 lead.
When the Rijkaard revolution soured, neither player was saved from the inquest, although their performances for Spain in Euro 2008 suggested they were part of the solution not the problem.
With Rijkaard, Ronaldinho and Deco all shown the door, they were given bigger parts in the new production which was to centre on the old theme of keep-ball but with a new emphasis on intensity and discipline.
Xavi says: 'Before, it was a case of - if you're only one kilo overweight, or just one minute late, what does it matter? But the truth is it does matter. It is the details that ultimately make the difference.
'This season has been special because we have played as a team - the rhythm, the speed, all one-touch with no unnecessary elaboration. The simple wall-pass is the hallmark of this side.
'The team ethic has been there from day one. You see Messi, the best player in the world, chasing back to cover the full back. The manager gave us back our confidence. He told us that if we played our short passing game nobody would be able to beat us.'
This season Xavi played his 300th league game and became the first Barcelona player with 100 European appearances.
Both he and Iniesta have been given contract extensions until 2014 and made club captains. And they have responded to the trust previously vested in Deco and Ronaldinho.
Iniesta, in particular, sets an example that Guardiola uses regularly. He says: 'With Andres there are no earrings, or tattoos, he doesn't dye his hair and if he only plays 20minutes he never complains. I say to all the young players, 'Look at Iniesta. Do as he does'.'
There is also no interest in image marketing from Iniesta, the son of a scaffolder whose only concession to ego has been to allow his grandad to convert the bar he owned into a museum full of every newspaper cutting ever dedicated to his grandson.
'I'm not bothered about being the guy in the commercial,' he says.
Maybe. But he is still a great advertisement for the game he graces.
