‘Mes Que Un Club’ it says across the seats at Barcelona’s magnificent Camp Nou stadium. For a long time, the Catalans’ claim to being ‘more than a club’ had a certain amount of justification. And if it was true, then Xavi Hernandez could just as easily have been labelled ‘Mes Que Un Jugador’.

The metronomic midfielder has been more than just a player for the greatest version of Barcelona ever to take to the field.