Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I get what I find and that's not even much, but I'll do what I can. :) Two articles, one is an interview and the other an article about Saturday's national team match against Armenia.

Xavi: "Real Madrid is Victim to Our Treble"

Without barely making a sound and with unequalled talent, this Terrassan is making history at FC Barcelona.

Joaquim Hernández, Xavi's father, always remembers that in his time spent as a player for Sabadell the weight of pressure was so hard on him that he had trouble breathing when he saw that his name was not included in the roster. Twenty-five years later, he accompanied his son in the car on the day of his debut at Camp Nou with Van Gaal. Joaquim was sweating like crazy and the steering wheel even slipped a few times in his hands, while Xavi, in the backseat, sat calmly. Joaquim, anxious about the nonchalantness of his son, asked him if he wasn't nervous about what was about to happen. "No way! I'll limit myself to doing what I know and that's it" was the kid's response, to the surprise of his father. This philosophy is what has brought Xavi to where he is, to be who he is and to be worth what he is.

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Xavi Returns "Affected" and is a Doubt for Mestalla

He suffered a strain on his quadriceps against Armenia and his progress will be monitored.

Xavi left the Spanish national team squad earlier than expected. A strain on his quadriceps made him be counselled on not forcing him for the upcoming match against Bosnia and yesterday he returned to Barcelona. With a spot assured for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, doctor Oscar Celada prescribed him rest and that he put himself immediately in the hands of the Barcelona doctors. Xavi's participation in the upcoming Liga match against Valencia at Mestalla is not certain.

After finishing the match against Armenia, the Barcelona midfielder noticed some disturbances in his right knee which were worsened as the minutes went on. The national team's doctors were warned of an excess of sensitivity in the affected region and had an agreement with Vicente del Bosque that he wouldn't play the full 90 minutes of the match. Nevertheless, Marchena and Fernando Torres' injuries kept him from abandoning the match earlier than expected.

A first glance allowed discovery that there was "a bit of liquid" in the knee and the strain in the quadriceps. Celada then contacted Ricard Pruna, head doctor for FC Barcelona, to warn him about Xavi's physical problems. Barça will follow his progress over the next few days and will determine if he will be included in the final roster for the Liga match.

Doctor Celada clarified from Armenia that the injury "is not irreparable, although medically it's best to not force it". Over the course of last week, Xavi suffered "a bit of aggravation in the knee". The pain slowly went away and he arrived at the match "in good condition". He didn't notice any pain during the match, but in cooling the knee down, "the feeling wasn't good". After looking at the situation, diagnosing the strain and asking Del Bosque's opinion it was opted that he leave the national team. The national team's trainer is left without one of his essential players.

Source.

Get well soon, Xavi! ♥

This is an article from Mundo Deportivo that I found yesterday about the Spanish national team. It's an interview of sorts with Xabi Alonso and Xavi. Who are, by the way, different people, with a different spelling yet similar pronunciation (for those of you unaware, in Spain "v" and "b" have virtually similar pronunciations). They are also both midfielders, though their role on the pitch is (debatedly by some people) different. Comparisons have begun to arise given Alonso's recent arrival at Real Madrid, so there may be lots of Xavi vs. Xabi articles in the future. Though hopefully not too many, or I may begin to scream. x______x

Anyway, the interview.

The X Factor: Xavi vs. Xabi

Xavi and Xabi Alonso sign on for the passionate duel between Barça and Madrid.
"They have more pressure", says the Catalan and the Basque hopes for a clásico in the European final

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I completely forgot to post this yesterday, but if any of you are on Tumblr, a friend and I have a "fuckyeah..." tumblog for Xavi. :)

We'd love it if you'd follow it and pimp it out. :D

F**K YEAH XAVI HERNÁNDEZ!!

Hey, everyone!

I don't have any articles for you right now, unfortunately. I've had like no internet all this summer (two days a week, FTL), and have had no way of getting articles and translating them. I tried a few methods, but posting them was useless. I'm so sorry for the lack of news this summer on Xavi, but as soon as I get back to school and 24/7 cable internet access I'll get back to translating.

Just letting you all know that I'm NOT dead and that I still have interest in this community.

I'm also considering creating a website/fansite/whatever. I just need to get off my butt and figure things out, but it's something I've been wanting to do for the past year or so. Thoughts/comments/anyone wanting to pitch in with something?

I have a ton of backlogged Xavi articles for you all, which I saved as websites and am translating now while I don't have internet at home. Sorry these are so late but it's summer and I never have internet during the summer anymore, and I finally had an entire weekend to spend on the internet. So I saved these and am translating them now. Some of them are from before the CL final, just to give you all a heads-up; that's how behind I am. :(

Enjoy!

The first article in this entry is an interview with Don Balón, a Spanish football magazine, from right before the Champions League final.

"No Excuses"

The motor of Barcelona's spine will definitely be on the field this time after missing out on Barça's last Champions League final, back then worried about his knee. The contest is set to be more decisive than ever.

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These next three go together in the same editorial done by Sport, to celebrate Xavi being the highest decorated player on Barcelona in terms of collective silverware.

Xavi Hernández, Lord of the Titles

SPORT is honored to present the one player in the history of the club with the most Ligas and Champions League titles together.

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Seven Awards in Nearly One "Touch"

The 2008-09 season has simply been exceptional for Xavi Hernández, in collective trophies as well as individual ones.

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The European Supercup and the World Club Cup, Xavi's Next Obstacles

On the Spanish national team he has the Confederations Cup and the World Cup in South Africa as his next goals.

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More coming later!



Also, I changed the posting to unmoderated. The main reason I did that was because I was getting bombarded with spammers and I wanted to make sure that crap wasn't getting through. Since I don't have internet that often (twice a week for a few hours), I realized that this would be much more of an inconvenience than anything else so I switched it back. I'm really sorry for those of you who have tried to post urgent things and I wasn't able to post them.

I'm going to translate this now because the picture has been making the rounds on Tumblr (I just created one and am already famous. WIN FOR ME.) and it's just that precious. So.

EVERYONE LOVES PUPPIES.

The Lightning Bolt "Tro", the Best Barcelona Charm

Bearing nine trophies of considerable size and weight wasn't easy, but fortunately we can count on employees of the Museu del FC Barcelona, who made everything easier.

Those who were also part of the festival of "cups", but in their own way were the workers at the U2 concert who stopped working on constructing cranes and soldering steel for a few minutes to take pictures with the cups to the frustration of the pitch manager at Camp Nou who dedicated himself to try and stop the drive of the workers. The arrival of Xavi, accompanied by his dog "Tro" (Catalan for "thunder") was aposteical. The player only had eyes for "Tro", a 4-month-old purebred labrador puppy who has stolen Xavi's heart. "He's a devil, he bites everything, but it's amazing," he stated, while he tried to show off his skills as a trainer in a pretty convincing way. Tro spent the entire time in his own world, playing with a Coca-Cola can and even doing his business on the pitch to the frustration of the pitch manager. After the interview, he brought his pet into the dressing room to give him some water in a metallic bowl he'd brought that had the Barcelona crest on it. Culé in the details, no doubt.

Source.

I have no words.

Animated icons {Football, Almost 300}

Teaser:



MOAR XAVI AWESOMENESS HERE

So my family's kind of/sort of in the process of moving, and today I was asked to go through some of my stuff and toss some of it in the trash. I got distracted when I saw a box of old cromos, Spanish football cards, in the middle of the garage and decided to go through it for old time's sake. These cards were collected by my family from the 1997-98 season up through 2001-02, and we have a pretty decent selection of old school ones.

The reason I'm posting this here is because in the madness I found two old school Xavi cards. One is from 1998-99, i.e. his debut season, and the other is from 1999-00. I'm posting them ( under the cutCollapse )

And because I have it uploaded and thought it absolutely adorable and I need to share it, a picture I found in one of the Barça Camp Nou editions I saved on my computer. XAVI IN NEW YORK CITY, from USA Tour 2008. ♥ HE IS IN MY CITY, OKAY OKAY. ♥



Anyway, enjoy the old school (and new school) Xavi.