Cesc Fabregas – Braveheart?

“If you’ve ever played football, you know that moment where you are in a situation and the ball comes and you hit the ball and somehow every millimetre is perfect. When it happens to you, it’s a wonder and you are amazed by your luck because usually you will fail. And when you see it done on the pitch, you see a miracle. I love it when the defenders are in a line to prevent the forward breaking through, to keep him on side. And a player plays a curved ball back across the back of the defence. The players start to run back, but the forward, who was behind the line, gets the ball because it curls back to him. That’s a miracle.”

“One moment the pitch is crowded and narrow. Suddenly it is huge and wide.”

That quote about spatial awareness could have been written purely for Fabregas. In a game that is (perhaps too) often about the blood and thunder, there’s a grace and a geometric genius about the way he plays football.

Andres Iniesta – El Caballero Pàlido

Guardiola strolled into training, trying to play it cool. In the changing rooms, he sought out his understudy Xavi. Finding him, he pulled him aside to impart his knowledge. “Hey kid, listen,” he told Xavi. “One day, you’re going to retire me. But this kid is going to retire us all.” Guardiola pointed him out, the new boy to the dressing room.” The pale boy in the corner, young and so naïve that he got lost on the way to the dressing room. Guardiola announced to his team-mates “Remember this day – the first day you played with Andres.”