Player name: Xavier Hernández Creus
Country: Spain
Clubs: FC Barcelona, Al Sadd
Position: Midfielder
DOB: 25/07/1980
Height: 5 ft 7 in
Xavier Hernández Creus, commonly known as Xavi, is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Barcelona. Widely considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xavi was renowned for his passing, vision, ball retention, and positioning. He won 32 trophies in his career, making him the second-most decorated Spanish player in history, behind former teammate Andrés Iniesta. He was included in the FIFA FIFPro World XI on six occasions: 2008 to 2013, and the UEFA Team of the Year five times: 2008 to 2012. In 2020 Xavi was named in the Ballon d'Or Dream Team, a greatest all-time XI published by France Football. He is one of the few recorded players to have made over 1,000 professional career appearances.
Xavi joined La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at age 11, and made his first-team debut against Mallorca in August 1998, age 18. In all, he played 767 official matches, a former club record—now held by Lionel Messi—and scored 85 goals. Xavi is the first player in the club's history to play 150 European and FIFA Club World Cup matches combined. With Barcelona, Xavi won eight La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles. In 2015, he departed Barcelona for Al Sadd, where he won four trophies before retiring in 2019.
Xavi joined La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at age 11, and made his first-team debut against Mallorca in August 1998, age 18. In all, he played 767 official matches, a former club record—now held by Lionel Messi—and scored 85 goals. Xavi is the first player in the club's history to play 150 European and FIFA Club World Cup matches combined. With Barcelona, Xavi won eight La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles. In 2015, he departed Barcelona for Al Sadd, where he won four trophies before retiring in 2019.
Now right here is one of the greatest pairs of match worn football boots we have EVER had in stock here at BC Boots UK! This is a truly crazy pick up, one which we thought would simply never be possible! Above is a pair of Xavi's match worn Adidas Predator Instinct which he used during his final ever season as an FC Barcelona player, namely the 2014-15 season, however these are not just any regular version of the Predator Instinct, oh no... this is one of the rarest Predator variants of all time. In this blog we will dissect every single special detail about them!
With Spain, Xavi won the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999, and the Olympic silver medal at the 2000 Olympics. After making his senior team debut in 2000, he was capped 133 times for his country, and was an influential figure in the team's successes. He played an integral role in Spain's victory at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as well as their wins at UEFA Euro 2008 and UEFA Euro 2012. He was named Player of the Tournament at UEFA Euro 2008, and was named in the UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament in 2008 and 2012. With two assists in the UEFA Euro 2012 Final, Xavi became the first player to register assists in two separate European finals, after setting up the only goal in the final four years earlier. After the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Xavi announced his retirement from international football.
It is very possible that the vast majority of football lovers have never even seen this variant of the Adidas Predator, and that is largely down to the fact that they were never made commercially available to the public on the retail market. Adidas did a press release on them in May of 2015, however the pair in those media pictures were a retail equivalent specification pair of Predator Instinct's with this colourway applied, but this pair that Xavi actually wore have numerous custom differences over the model shown to the masses! To honor Xavi's 17 years at Barcelona since his first-team debut in 1998, Adidas produced 17 pairs of the Adidas Predator Instinct Xavi boots, which will were never sold, with some in FG and some in SG - all 17 pairs however were made in fully retail specification. Xavi was supplied with 2 custom pairs for match wear to be used in his final ever matches as a Barca player prior to leaving the club to join Al Sadd in the summer of 2015, and we have got our hands on 1 of those pairs! The second pair Xavi brought with him to Al Sadd, where he wore them in his first matches at his new club. It is to our knowledge that Xavi still has that pair in his personal collection, having gifted this pair here to a good friend of his, who was an FC Barcelona staff member, upon his departure.
Xavi came third in the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year, followed by third place for its successor award, the FIFA Ballon d'Or, in 2010 and 2011. In 2011, he was runner up to Messi for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. Xavi was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award in 2012. He was awarded the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker award four times, all straight between 2008 and 2011. After retirement, Xavi transitioned to coaching, and he was named the manager at Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd in May 2019, where he won seven titles in less than three years. In November 2021, Xavi was appointed as manager at his former club Barcelona. He won the 2022–23 Supercopa de España & the 2022–23 La Liga title in his first full season as the club's manager.
The pair seem here were worn specifically in three matches, namely the last two La Liga fixtures of the 2014-15 season, one being the 0-1 away victory vs Atletico Madrid at the Vincente Calderon on the 17th of May 2015, and the other being the 2-2 draw vs RC Deportivo La Coruna on the 23rd of May 2015 where Barcelona celebrated winning the league title, lifting the trophy in front of their home fans at the Camp Nou - Xavi gave his farewell speech to the Barca fans at the end of the celebrations all whilst wearing this pair! This pair were also worn during the Copa Del Rey Final 1-3 victory vs Athletic Club on the 30th May 2015 at the Camp Nou.
Born in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia, Xavi is a product of FC Barcelona's La Masia youth system, which he joined at the age of 11 from UFB Jàbac Terrassa and Terrassa FC. His father, Joaquim, was a former player for Sabadell in the first division. Xavi made his way through the youth and reserve teams and was a key member of Josep Maria Gonzalvo's Barcelona B team that won promotion to the Second Division. Although he was initially inspired by compatriot playmaker Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, as a child Xavi also watched a lot of English football, and looked up to midfielders John Barnes, Paul Gascoigne and Matt Le Tissier.
The colourway of this pair is a totally one-off unique design which Adidas created just for Xavi to "celebrate a career of winning". The boots boast a mainly red upper with a unique yellow lines pattern, drawing inspiration from the Catalan flag - the home of Barcelona and Xavi himself. The sole plate of the Adidas Predator Xavi Boots is coloured red, whilst incorporating his infamous number 6 squad number also in the yellow of the Catalan flag. White 3 stripes complete the unique design of Xavi's bespoke boots.
In June 2014, it was announced that Xavi would be leaving the club. On 22 July, however, after talks with newly appointed manager and former teammate Luis Enrique, Xavi decided to stay at Camp Nou for one more season. He was also appointed as club captain. On 25 April 2015, Xavi made his 500th La Liga appearance, becoming the eighth player in history to do so. On 4 June, a farewell event was held at Barcelona for Xavi with players, managers, friends and family paying tribute to him.
On 6 June 2015, Xavi came on as a 78th-minute substitute for Andrés Iniesta to make his 767th and final appearance for Barcelona during the 2015 Champions League Final, as the club won its fifth European Cup, beating Juventus at Berlin's Olympiastadion. Xavi, as club captain, lifted the trophy. This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice. Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Gerard Piqué, Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Dani Alves were part of both treble-winning teams. Xavi's 767 appearances was a club record until surpassed by Lionel Messi in March 2021.
On 6 June 2015, Xavi came on as a 78th-minute substitute for Andrés Iniesta to make his 767th and final appearance for Barcelona during the 2015 Champions League Final, as the club won its fifth European Cup, beating Juventus at Berlin's Olympiastadion. Xavi, as club captain, lifted the trophy. This made Barcelona the first club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice. Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Gerard Piqué, Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Dani Alves were part of both treble-winning teams. Xavi's 767 appearances was a club record until surpassed by Lionel Messi in March 2021.
Unlike the press release version & mass produced models of the Adidas Predator Instinct, Xavi's custom pairs were specially custom made to measure in Germany by Adidas' Athlete Services division, the factory of which is located at their headquarters in Herzogenaurach. As we can see above, the address of the factory itself is stated on the internal size labels, along with Adidas' motto "Only the best for the athlete!". This pair were bespoke made to the point that they are actually quarter sized, which is of course something that is not commercially available to the public in any form of football footwear, only the elite level players have access to this kind of customised detail. Typically, the custom player boots from this factory would have codes which refer to things such as the art no. located at the bottom of the internal size labels, here however, that area of the label is blank with no codes whatsoever, due to the fact that this pair were made in such low quantities (2 pairs!), the craftsmen inside the Athlete Services factory simply didn't put any!
Above: Xavi wearing this exact pair during the 2-2 draw between FC Barcelona & Deportivo La Coruna in La Liga on the 23rd May 2015 at the Camp Nou, where Barca went on to lift the La Liga trophy in front of their home fans, with captain Xavi leading the celebrations.
A common feature among Xavi's match worn boots from around the 2010 era onwards was that he used bespoke orthopaedic insoles in all of his pairs, and this pair right here are no different. They are made of a thicker foam compound and are generally more padded throughout, and feature a custom black suede top lining for that extra comfort factor. Xavi tended to request that his boots are supplied to him with the insoles actually fixed/glued in inside the boots in order to prevent internal slippage, Steven Gerrard was another player who lined his insoles to be fixed inside his Preds during this era. So unfortunately, due to this detail we are unable to remove the insoles from this special pair and show the underside, however in the above image we can get a good look at the top side! The press release version of the Adidas Predator Instinct Xavi edition featured the standard specification construction, with a yellow and red liner to match the external colourway.
Xavi is widely considered one of the best midfielders of all time, relying largely on his ability to find and exploit space as a deep-lying playmaker. As he said, "That's what I do: look for spaces. All day. I'm always looking." Finding space, he would appear for a teammate to receive and then move the ball on, with his coach Pep Guardiola putting it: "I get the ball, I give the ball, I get the ball, I give the ball." A diminutive, composed, agile, and technically skilled player with a slender physique and a low centre of gravity, these characteristics compensated for his lack of pace or physicality. Xavi's signature move when in possession involved him performing a 360 degree turn, a feint known as la pelopina, that allowed him to move away from the opposing player, retain possession, and gave him space and time on the ball to think about his next pass. In his youth, he had also played as a centre-back, before being shifted to a midfield role. While primarily a central midfielder with Barcelona, he often played in a more advanced midfield role with Spain.
Although the insoles are fully fixed vinside the boots, the very edge at the rear has not been glued - which is thankful as this allows us to view the production sticker inside the heel area! This label contains information such as the production date and factory number. As we can see, this pair were manufactured in April of 2015 - the month prior to Xavi actually wearing them out on one of the biggest stages in world football, the Camp Nou. The code "502001" is the factory number referring to the Athlete Services factory in Germany.
Interestingly, Xavi's custom match worn version does not feature the plastic pad on the medial side/instep area of the upper which you'd find on the retail specification Adidas Predator Instinct boots. This is typically referred to as the "pass pad" and was advertised as an aid when passing the ball, Xavi however (the master of passing!), did not see the benefit, so had his version made without and instead preferred the smoothness of the synthetic upper material by itself in this area.
Although he was not known for his tackling ability, or for being prolific in front of goal, Xavi's outstanding vision, "metronomic" pinpoint accurate passing, excellent off the ball movement, superb reading of the game, positional sense, and world-class ball control allowed him to create chances for teammates and dictate the flow of play in midfield, while rarely relinquishing possession. These qualities were displayed by his performance during Spain's 2010 World Cup victory, where he maintained a 91% passing success rate throughout the entire tournament, in addition to providing two assists, while Spain dominated possession throughout the competition.
The upper design incorporates 'XAVI' across the medial side of the heel area on each boot in the blue of the Catalan flag, with the smart yellow lined design coming off of the lettering - a design of which is something that has not really been seen before on a pair of football boots. Adidas also created a similar model in principle for Steven Gerrard, which also created in order to celebrate his 17 years at Liverpool, so a very similar concept to Xavi's pair, and those were also shown to the public in May 2015! But again, the press release version was in retail model specification, with the handful of pairs Gerrard actually wore featuring numerous modifications over the model shown to the public. One of Gerrard's match worn pairs of his commemorative model was sold at auction for over £45,000.
Xavi's ability to control games earned him the sobriquet, The Puppet Master. Jorge Valdano opined, "If football was a science, Xavi would have discovered the formula. With a ball at his feet, no one else has ever communicated so intelligently with every player on the pitch." Barcelona president Sandro Rosell believed that Xavi, together with Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, perfected the club's tiki-taka style of play, a style introduced to the club by former coach Johan Cruyff. Despite primarily being a creative player, however, he was also capable of scoring goals himself in addition to assisting them. Named in the Ballon d'Or Dream Team, a greatest all-time XI, Xavi's creativity, range of passing, and unique set of skills have led many in the sport to regard him as one of the greatest passers and one of the finest playmakers in history. In addition to his playing ability, Xavi was also praised for his leadership.
Now so far in this blog, it may or may not have caught your eye that the studs on Xavi's match worn Predator Instinct don't exactly look standard or familiar. And that's because, well, they are not! This pair feature a fully custom stud construction, with all studs being made conical (rounded) in shape just for Xavi. This is something that he had on all of his Predator LZ & Instinct models, so it is for sure a detail he was particularly fond of during that era of his playing career. This is very reminiscent of Leo Messi's 'Gambatrax' soleplate, however with all studs being round, instead of only the front two and rear two. Regular Predator Instinct boots featured triangular studs.
Above, we can see a side by side comparison of the soleplate of the Xavi match worn pair we have here along with the soleplate of one of the 17 pairs of the press release version - and what's visibly noticeable, is that there also another difference. The front studs feature a solid red plastic construction, whilst the rear studs are fully transparent, whereas Xavi's studs are a frosted white kind of colour, and the outer border of the forefoot area is a frosted red, rather than the solid red found on the press release pair. Why is this? Well, it is because the studs on Xavi's pair are made from a totally different plastic compound all together, its a much softer material which would in turn provide a better shock absorption when playing, compared to the retail version. These small details are something that are hardly ever seen in the public eye, so we do our utmost best to explain every difference! Another point to note, is that the number 6 graphic on the sole of the retail version is facing the same way on both the left and right boot of the retail spec boot, whereas on Xavi's pair, it is mirrored (for an unknown reason!). On the right boot, as seen in the picture above, the 6 is facing the correct way, whereas on the left boot it is mirrored - this can be seen on the soleplate picture further up in the blog.
Let us know what you think of this crazy special one-off match worn pair from one of the greatest midfield players of all time, Xavier Hernández!