FCBARCELONA.CAT
Main menu
Content menu
Football
27.08.2009 19:05
Xavi and Messi dedicate awards to the squad
www.fcbarcelona.cat
After picking up their awards at the UEFA ceremony in Monaco, Xavi and Messi stressed that the merit belonged to the whole Barça squad.
Barça’s excellent 2008-09 season culminated in the Club’s third Champions league
title. Now, UEFA has recognised the individual achievements of two members of the team, Xavi and
Messi. On learning of their awards, both players emphasised the important of the whole squad.
Recognition for the squad
Speaking to Barça TV and www.uefa.com, Xavi Hernández dedicated the award to his team-mates:
“I know that this is all a team success. I’m very happy and I dedicate it to them
because without their contribution I’m nobody on the pitch”. Lionel Messi spoke in
similar terms: “The whole group deserves recognition for our season last year”.
Humility and hard work
They also stressed that the players must keep their feet on the ground
if they want to carry on winning. Messi, who today picked up the first of what will surely be many
individual awards in years to come, was determined to play down comments that rate him as the best
player in the world: “I just concentrate on doing my job, on improving as a player and on
learning. I will never believe that I’m the best in the world and my objective is to work
hard to carry on winning”.
Xavi is obviously delighted to have been voted best player in the European Nations Cup, best
player in the Rome final and now best midfielder in the competition. However, he stressed:
“Everyone likes to receive awards and it’s clear that these come from collective
success. Now we’re immersed in a new season and there’s a lot at stake”.
Home-grown players
As a product of the Barça youth academy, Xavi is pleased that all five nominees came up
through the youth ranks: “It’s another sign that the youth football is very well
organised. Barça’s great teams have always had home-grown players and I believe this should
never be lost. It’s a privilege and an honour that there are so many home-grown players in
the first team”.
To view this content you need the latest version of the Flash Player
Fully focussed on the European Super Cup
Although it’s nice to receive awards, Xavi and Messi known that the most important thing is Friday’s final and that there’ no room for mistakes. Xavi told us: “We’ll be 100%: We know that we have to give our all and be humble. We are aware that Shakhtar is a great team against whom we can win or lose but we will never lose our humility”.
For his part Messi said: “Above everything else is Friday’s match. It’ll be very complicated and we can’t repeat the defeat from the past. We have to start well and mentalise ourselves that it’ll be very difficult”.
