It’s been over a year since Barcelona appointed Xavi Hernández as their new coach. But the honeymoon phase proved to last shorter than most had imagined and soon, the Catalans - and their fanbase - found themselves wanting more. Yearning for it, even.

Yet, Xavi’s Barcelona project is as tough as they come. Navigating through a financial crisis, a team ridden with unfitting profiles and a massive fall from grace would be a task too daunting for most, let alone a largely inexperienced coach. Perhaps inexperience is the wrong word, though. Xavi has very little experience as the man on the sidelines but perhaps crucially, a lifetime of it playing at the very peak of the mountain.

And that experience is the foundation on which Barcelona need to build their future. Xavi sees football in ways most can only dream of. In that manner, he could be compared to the world’s best.