PROFILE - Can Xavi conquer Europe with Barcelona again?

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Barcelona's new manager Xavi Hernandez was one of the integral parts of the Spanish football club as an active player in the 2000s when Barca dominated Europe, winning the UEFA Champions League titles several times.

A four-time Champions League winner, Xavi eyes to win Europe's top-tier title as a Barcelona head coach to join Carlo Ancelotti, Josep Guardiola, and Zinedine Zidane.

In previous years, many well-known football figures such as Ancelotti, Guardiola, and Zidane managed to win the Champions League as a player and then as a head coach for the same club.

Xavi, 41, a pure Barcelona product and legend, played 767 matches for Barcelona over 17 years in the first team (1998-2015), scoring 85 goals and producing 185 assists.

Known for his visual perception, passing, and playmaking skills in the center of the park, Barca's ex-captain Xavi won many trophies in this term, including four Champions League titles in 2006, 2009, 2011, and 2015.

Italian national Ancelotti was an AC Milan player in 1987-1992 to win back-to-back European Cup in 1989 and 1990.

The Champions League was called the European Cup at the time and was rebranded in 1992.

Ancelotti became the AC Milan manager in 2001 and served for the Rossoneri until 2009.

In this eight-year spell, Ancelotti, 62, repeated his Champions League success with Milan in 2003 and 2007.

Before the 2003 Champions League triumph, Milan had built an admired team to take the European title as many stars such as Paolo Maldini, Andriy Shevchenko, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, and Rui Costa were the Rossoneri regulars in these years.

After the 2003 victory that Milan beat Juventus on penalties in the all-Italian final in Manchester, Ancelotti's men have done it again in 2007.

But this time, they won against Liverpool 2-1 in the 2007 final in Athens to take the revenge of 2005, which was one of the most dramatic Champions League finals in history.

At the end of the first half in Istanbul, Milan were dominating the match 3-0. But after the break, Liverpool scored three goals in an impressive comeback to tie the match.

Neither team was able to score in extra time and the match went to penalties. Liverpool lifted the 2005 trophy-winning 3-2 on penalties in a historic night for the English club.

Ancelotti's Milan returned home with a silver medal in 2005.

- Guardiola wins Champions League twice as manager

Now managing Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, 50, spent the majority of his football career at Barcelona.

Similar to Xavi, Guardiola played in Barcelona's youth teams until he was promoted to the senior squad in 1991.

He played for Barcelona in 1991-2001, then left the Spanish team to join Italy's Brescia. His main position was defensive midfield.

Guardiola was 21 when he lifted the 1992 European Cup with Barcelona.

In the 1992 final, Barca beat Italy's Sampdoria 1-0 with an extra-time goal scored by Dutch defender Ronald Koeman.

Guardiola retired in 2006 to manage Barcelona in 2008, which was his first senior-level head coach experience.

He guided Lionel Messi-led Barcelona to win the Champions League twice in 2009 and 2011.

In both Champions League finals, Barcelona beat England's Manchester United by 2-0 in Rome and 3-1 in London.

In the Guardiola era, Barcelona has performed the famous "tiki-taka" passing style to earn local and international success.

It gives high ball possession with quick short passes so a team that manages to do it successfully can dictate the tempo of the game. This playing style also gives more credit to creativity than the physical battle of players.

The "tiki-taka" philosophy also influenced the Spanish national team in those years.

Similar to Barcelona, Spain perfectly performed it to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Barcelona midfielders in the 2010s, Spanish trio Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and Sergio Busquets were the main pillars of both their club and Spain.

- Zidane's Real Madrid claims CL 3 times in row

Former France star Zidane, still regarded as one of the greatest players of all times, won the Champions League title once as a Real Madrid player in 2002.

Real Madrid were crowned the 2002 champions over a 2-1 win against Germany's Bayer Leverkusen as Zidane was part of the victors at that time.

In the 2002 final in Glasgow, Zidane fired a magical left-footed volley to score the winning goal for the Whites.

This goal has entered the 60 Great UEFA Goals in 2014 as the European football's governing body UEFA celebrated its 60th birthday in the same year.

The 1998 FIFA World Cup champion with the French national team, Zidane, 49, retired from the game in 2006.

Zidane, who is a free agent now, managed his old club Real Madrid to win three consecutive Champions League titles in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Cristiano Ronaldo-led Real Madrid beat rivals Atletico Madrid on penalties in the 2016 final held in Milan.

In the 2017 final in Cardiff, the Whites hammered Juventus 4-1 to claim the trophy twice in a row.

And in 2018, Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1 in Kyiv to win three straight Champions League finals, and this was the last time that the Whites bagged this trophy.