By Fernando Kallas
NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) – Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina may be dressed in national colours but Barcelona greats Xavi Hernandez and Javier Mascherano see their old club’s shadows everywhere.
From Spain’s La Masia-bred youngsters to Lionel Messi, the Barca academy’s most dazzling export still bending matches to his will at 39, the influence of the club is clear to see.
Xavi was a pillar of Spain’s side whose tiki-taka possession game won the country’s first World Cup in South Africa in 2010, while Mascherano was Messi’s former team mate with Barcelona and Argentina and his coach at Inter Miami until early this year.
They spoke to Reuters in front of the giant LEGO World Cup trophy replica at the Rockefeller Center in New York ahead of a final layered with personal history.
Spain arrive with a squad sprinkled with Barca influence, including Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, two players handed their professional debuts as teenagers by Xavi during his spell as the club’s manager.
Argentina arrive with Messi, who won his first World Cup in Qatar four years ago and has dragged time, defenders and probability along for a ride to a second consecutive final.
Mascherano said nothing Messi does should still surprise anyone — except, of course, that it does.
“He is a special one, you know? You cannot compare (him) with anyone. He’s different, totally different,” the 42-year-old Mascherano said.
“Always when we see him, always it’s a surprise because he’s doing a lot of things that we will never, never see in another player. So, I think in the future, it will be difficult to find a player like him. I think it’s impossible.”
Xavi, who shared years of midfield sorcery with Messi at Barcelona, said he watched Argentina’s 2-1 win over England with Mascherano and could barely process what he was seeing.
“We were together watching the game, and he told me, ’39 years (old), and what’s he doing?’ It’s amazing,” Xavi said.
“In my opinion, he’s the best in history. And he’s still making a difference on the pitch. And his ambition, his attitude, he’s a warrior. He’s absolutely the best.”
Mascherano went further, saying Messi still appeared to hold the remote control to football’s grandest stage.
“I think he is still showing that he is the owner of the game,” he said. “He has the ball, and he makes the decisions sometimes that he is going to win the game and he can do that.”
CHARACTER AND PASSION
For 46-year-old Xavi, pride in Sunday’s final stretches beyond Messi. He said watching forward Lamine and defender Cubarsi mature into World Cup finalists had been especially satisfying after seeing their conviction up close as teenagers.
“I feel, of course, very proud because I saw them when they were 15, Lamine; 16, Pau Cubarsi,” Xavi said.
“They had the character and the passion. I remember them telling me: ‘Don’t worry, coach, I’m ready. No worries,’ because I was a bit afraid that at 15, 16, maybe they were not, that they would feel the pressure. Absolutely not.”
Xavi said Barca’s footballing idea runs through both finalists, even if Mascherano was quick to point out Argentina do not have many current Barcelona players.
“We have to be proud with this philosophy, with this idea,” Xavi said. “It’s one idea, and still the idea is going on. We are in the final with this system, even Argentina.”
Mascherano added: “We don’t have too many players from Barca but the way to play is much like that.
“For me, they’re the best two teams in the tournament. Teams that play in a similar way. They like to play with the ball, and they don’t feel comfortable if they don’t have the ball.
“Maybe the team that has possession of the ball will take the tempo of the game. For me, it’s the best final that we could have.”
As for predicting a winner, neither was certain.
“You never know,” Mascherano said.
“So difficult to have a prediction,” Xavi added.
“I think only God knows what is going to happen,” Mascherano said. “Because it’s just one game.”
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas. Additional reporting by Leonardo Benassato and Kurt Michael Hall; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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