The statistics alone from Saturday evening are bewildering: the Barcelona captain for the night passed the ball more than the top three United players combined and with his customary 90 per cent plus accuracy; he ran further than any other participant and 27 times he picked out Lionel Messi.And he did most of this work in the final third of the pitch, where space and time are at the biggest premium. But the stats don't tell the whole story. Not even half of it.The naked eye showed that here was, at 31, a player at the top of his game and one who also completely demolishes the notion of burn-out as he strode forward, sucking in United defenders to then slip a perfectly-weighted pass through to Pedro to score the opening goal.Xavi, like five of his Barca team-mates who started the Champions League final, also played in the World Cup final for Spain back on July 11 last year. With international commitments the Confederations Cup, before that the European Championship this summer represents the first for almost four years that Xavi will be permitted a proper break from football.It shows that the game is not about running. It's about movement. It's not about physicality; it's about mentality. A game played in the head.Burn-out exists, but it is compounded by the intensity, the running power and bruising nature of the Premier League more than anything else. It is the nature of the football played in England that needs to be addressed. No one sums that up more than Xavi who has taken the role of being the heartbeat of this team, arguably the best club side the world has ever seen, certainly the best for two decades, to a higher level.The work-rate is immense but because Barca push so far up the field, it does not involve sapping, lung-bursting runs or lunging tackles.Instead it's a constant darting and shuffling, stealing the ball back, recycling, which is also taxing and sometimes means they do indeed fade in the final half-hour.In an interview, Xavi gave an explanation that should be printed out and posted in every football club, at every level, in the country and every coach should learn it by heart and drill it into their players. Xavi said this: "Think quickly, look for spaces. That's what I do: look for spaces. All day. I'm always looking. All day, all day. Here? No. There? No. People who haven't played don't always realise how hard that is. Space, space, space."It is hard, but it also becomes second nature. It was only when Xavi started to command the ball at Wembley, after United's initial burst, that the patterns started to be traced.
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