Spain’s victory over Czech Republic on Saturday marked two remarkable individual achievements by two outstanding players. Firstly David Villa scored twice to overtake Raul’s all-time goal scoring record for Spain and secondly Xavi – general regarded as the best midfielder in the world – reached 100 caps.
It is an incredible achievement by Villa who now leads Raul in the all-time goal scoring records; he now has 46 goals in 72 Internationals whereas Raul scored 44 in 102 games. Whilst he is fortunate to play in such a successful team this achievement should not be undermined. He is currently the best striker in the world and has already scored 21 goals this season after his move to Barcelona.
However, it is not only his goal scoring abilities that make him stand out as the best striker around. He is a great team player and has settled into his new club with aplomb. It is obviously a massive help when you see 6 of the players you started the world cup final with but his attitude has made him stand out from many others. Over the last few years Barca have tried to find a forward who can operate in their system (Bojan, Henry, and Ibrahimovic) and have finally found their man.
His team mate at Barca Xavi Hernandez also reached a personal milestone in the game by reaching his 100th cap. His ability to retain possession and dictate the pace of the game has been instrumental in Barcelona and Spain’s successes in recent years. Leading up to the game on Saturday the Spanish press labelled Xavi as ‘the greatest Spanish player ever’ and it is hard to disagree.
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