Xavi smiled when asked to name the Manchester United players who would get into Barcelona's first XI.
"Rooney, Chicharito [Javier Hernandez], Evra, Ferdinand," he said to much surprise. "All I'm saying is that they would be good enough to play in any team in the world. If you are good enough for Manchester United then you are good enough for any team."
Barca's playmaker, 31, has always bordered on the reverential when talking about United. A confirmed Anglophile, the player who is largely viewed as the world's best midfielder made his Barca debut at Old Trafford in 1998 after coming through the youth ranks at Camp Nou and has played against United several times in his career.
"For me, Manchester [United] is a reference point - not just now but over many years," said the Spanish World Cup winner.
"What [Sir Alex] Ferguson has achieved deserves a lot of credit. Ferguson and [Paul] Scholes and [Ryan] Giggs are references for everyone in football throughout the world. They have been at the top for many years playing at an extraordinary level. They have won leagues year after year and they keep reaching Champions League finals and semi-finals."
The Catalan, who grew up in the former textile town of Terrassa 20km west of Barcelona, admits to being a student of football, someone who studies players, tactics, coaches, stadiums and fans.
He is the best talker among the Barca squad and while he has been flattered by direct attention from United and AC Milan in the past, he never has considered leaving Barca. Instead, he remains true to the philosophy instilled by the man in charge when he joined the club as a 12-year-old, Johan Cruyff.
"Cruyff's influences remain very important to this club," he said. "He changed the idiosyncrasy of the club. He introduced the philosophy to keep the ball, to play in triangles, to attack. That philosophy remains true to this day. We're all students of Cruyff and his school of thought."
Guardiola was Cruyff's finest student, but Xavi has long eclipsed the success of his former mentor as a player. Now he plays under him at Barca, seeking their own dynasty to compare with Bayern Munich or Ajax in the 1970s, Liverpool's four European Cups in eight seasons or Milan's back-to-back wins. And, though it is not often said in Catalonia, Real Madrid's five successive triumphs in the 1950s.
"This is our third final in six years," said Xavi, whose parents let his older brother but not him travel to Wembley Stadium for Barca's first European Cup triumph in 1992.
"For us, this is historic. There are 10 or 15 teams who can win the Champions League each season, so for us to reach the final again is fantastic. We intend to carry on and to be like the teams you have said. We see no reason why not.
"We have a great team and coach here. We're playing a great team in Manchester United, so it will be tough, but we're confident."
sports@thenational.ae
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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