Xavi: Messi is the Michael Jordan of football; his 2011 UCL semi-final performance is unforgettable

Xavi reminisced about Messi in an article for The Athletic, calling him "the Michael Jordan of football."

I was 20 when I first heard the name Messi.

A Barcelona youth team coach told me that a boy from Argentina was coming to the academy. He said he had never seen such a player. Honestly, I was a bit skeptical at the time. So many talented kids came and went through the Barça system. In my opinion, you can only truly evaluate a player once they make it to the first team.

He told me: "Xavi, this one is different."

In the following years, I remember watching clips of Messi on the internal Barça TV channel. His dribbles, his goals... those moments where he'd continuously beat four or five defenders, then round the goalkeeper. He seemed to have supernatural talent, but many young players give that impression. The channel usually only showed their best moments.

In 2004, that coach sent me a message: "The Argentinian I told you about will train with you tomorrow." I thought, okay, it's time to see just how good this kid really is.

I still remember that training session. The way he controlled the ball, the way he dribbled, the way he passed, the way he linked up with teammates... He could do everything. He was a phenomenon.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The other first-team players felt the same, including Puyol, Valdés, Deco, and Ronaldinho. We just looked at each other, as if to say, "This isn't normal." Leo was only 16, but he was almost immediately the best player at the club.

He was a very hardworking kid with an extremely strong competitive drive. With or without the ball, he was extremely aggressive and had a strong desire to win. Whenever he attacked, there was no showboating, no fancy tricks—just a direct, purposeful assault on goal. My goodness, the way that kid attacked... it was truly rare. Even at Barça, you didn't see that kind of talent.

Off the pitch, Leo was very shy and introverted. Soon after he joined the first team, we shared a room during an Asian tour. He would even ask for my permission just to turn on the TV. I told him, "Relax, it's fine, you don't have to listen to me." I tried to make him feel at ease and comfortable.

On the field, we always communicated. He would say, "Xavi, this guy is too tight on me, play it in behind." Then he would make a run to get past the defender. Sometimes I would see him get a little frustrated because he wasn't getting the ball. I would tell him, "Come back, come back." He would drop back closer to me, closer to Iniesta, closer to Busquets, back to the central areas of the game. The more Leo touched the ball, the more the team benefited. We wanted him to enjoy playing and to be more involved in the game.

Playing with him was easy, very easy. If you couldn't play with Messi, you couldn't play football—it's that simple. You pass the ball to Leo, and he'll pass it back to you perfectly at the optimal moment, always to your dominant foot. As someone who has always loved passing, it was a privilege to play with him. Leo made me a better player, and I tried to do things for him as well.

He was an excellent teammate. At first, he was a quiet leader—always demanding the ball on the pitch, always showing his personality—then he slowly took on more responsibility. When I left Barcelona in 2015, he was already very communicative and would encourage teammates before matches. Now, with the Argentina national team, you can see that he is the undisputed leader, both in word and deed. This unquenchable desire to win simply emanates from him. You never see Messi unmotivated in a game. His passion for football is very Argentinian and very competitive. You can't ignore that.

There are many performances by Messi that I find unforgettable, but if I had to pick one, it would be the 2011 Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid—the first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu. Mourinho had the pitch cut to very long grass; we could tell they wanted a 0-0 draw. Leo scored first, then went on a Maradona-esque run, beating opponent after opponent. He faced Lassana Diarra, Xabi Alonso, Albiol, and Sergio Ramos alone, breaking through all of them. We hadn't played much football that day. The game was going nowhere. Then Messi appeared. That's what he could do. Our team's operations might get stuck, but we had the trump card of the greatest player in history. Messi could win us games single-handedly.

Watching him play now moves me greatly. I played until I was 39, but by then I was in the Qatari league and had long since stopped playing for the Spanish national team. Leo is the same age now, but look at him—he's still exactly the same as before. He hasn't changed. Look at his footwork, still those quick little steps: tap, tap, tap. Anyone else would have retired after winning the World Cup in 2022, but he is simply such a competitive beast. He firmly believes he can win again.

I have no doubt that Argentina will reach the final stages, and we will see the best Messi. This is his moment. He has been mentally preparing for this, even though many say he is not in good physical condition, that he is not the same as before. Then he goes out on the field and scores a hat-trick.

His first goal against Algeria was pure Leo. When De Paul looked up, Leo was right in the perfect position to receive the ball. Then he looked back three times. That's one of his secrets. He's always observing, always assessing the situation around him. He has all the information in his head. Many times, he's just walking, but he's observing as he walks. Teammates are passing, he's assessing what the opposing defensive midfielder is doing, what the centre-backs are doing, where the gaps are. His understanding of the game is top-notch.

We used to do a lot of mental training at Barcelona—exercises where you had to find space or open up teammates. Leo was a master at this. It's no exaggeration to say he could play Iniesta's position, Busquets's position, Puyol's position, my position... He could do anything the best player in any position could do, and he still can.

After Argentina's match against Algeria, I sent Leo a message. I told him he was simply messing around, and I could only laugh at the things I saw him do. It was crazy, truly crazy. But that's Leo. He always shows up at the right moment. For me, he is incomparable. Incomparable. Almost inhuman.

I like to say he's the Michael Jordan of football. In the world of football, no one can compare to him. Because his peak has been so long, he has surpassed the great players of the past: for the last 20 years, he has been the best. Even now, after so much time, he can still go out on the pitch and show us that.

His mentality is extraordinary. For me, that's what sets him apart. He cannot stand losing. He has the perfect personality for football and the perfect body for football: his body is tailor-made for the sport. Don't just look at the goals he scored against Algeria; look at his overall performance, his physical condition, and the drive and ambition he brings to the game. He possesses a champion's mentality that no one will ever be able to match.

At 16, I could see he was a special talent, but to maintain it for so long is truly remarkable. I am grateful to have played with Leo, to have been alongside him during this period in history.

I don't believe we will ever see another footballer like him.