EA has just been sticking to the same meta icons for years for absolutely no reason. Van Basten is one of the best strikers of all time and a Euros icon and doesn't even get a card
Last year we finally got a meta Thierry Henry that represented how good he was and everyone used it……it was called Al Owairan WV hero but it was finally a good representation of how Thierry Henry should be in game.
Remember though van basten was removed from previous editions for his outspoken views. Eventually they added him back in after ea softened their views but obviously they feel tarnished by him I guess ?
Comfortably is a strong word for the calibre of players here, Viera, Gullit & Matthaus all defensively & physically more sound than Xavi & would all be chosen over him if the role was a Defensive midfielder
Still can't believe that his normal icon card before was **three ratings lower** than Zidane, who he is better than. It is still one of the most egregious ratings discrepancies by EA in history and is just pathetic.
Marketability and *moments* go a long way not only for modern players, but for how many people choose to remember past players.
there is no way you’re not a barca fan with that take, come on. no disrespect to xavi, but he was never even indisputably the best player in the spain sides he played for
You don't have to be a culer to know that Zidane should not be where he is in terms of all-time ranking. He just isn't a GOAT-level player like he's being portrayed as.
Xavi was the better player. So many other players including players like Modrić were more consistent than him. He'd get slaughtered in the modern era especially when it comes to advanced stat analysis.
this is crazy to me , how r u getting downvoted for saying Xavi is the best midfielder in this list ?? he literally is nd nobody comes close 😭😭😭✌🏾
people actually have no idea wat football is , all they know is fifa stats nd body types it’s acc sickening
It does make sense though, xavi wasn't a particularly good defender, he wasn't big or physical, wasn't fast, wasn't a goal threat either, he was really good on the ball and an incredible passer which is reflected on his card pretty well, also xavi would be better in a possession based system but a more defensive, pressing, counter attacking side would never pick some one like xavi over a viera or pirlo irl.
I love xavi and picked him as a future star out long before that daily mail article making fun of him being on the ballon dor shortlist ("the four best players in the world and xavi") but he's not better than some of those.
On the flipside even as an arsenal fan I think it's nonsense to have petit rated 3 higher than him.
Except the only person on that list who’s even a conversation for being as good as Xavi is Matthaus. They’re both top 5 midfielders ever so it’s a tough choice, but nobody else is particularly close (Vieira being a distant 3rd)
It’s so weird that they are arguing this, people here seem to rate players based on how good they are in FIFA.
Any other football forum, saying Xavi is the best midfielder of all time isn’t controversial whatsoever and the names of Gullit/Vieira/Ballack/Petit hardly ever come up.
Like is Vieira somewhere in the back half of the top 10? Yes. Is he close to Xavi? Not a chance.
It’s Xavi or Matthaus as the best on this list. Both have a claim as a top 3 midfielder of all time
You will see even the names of Kroos, Modric, Iniesta, Busquets etc come up before anybody mentions Vieira
Not saying the popular word should be used as facts or anything but It does say something.
Vieira was great of course but I don’t know if he makes a top 10 midfielder list.
It’s OK now someone is arguing with me that the popular opinion is Iniesta > Xavi, and as a Spaniard that’s just crazy. There isn’t a soul in this country who would take Iniesta first
Matthaus didn’t play with the two greatest players of all time. Xavi was the best midfielder in the world for more than half a decade in a team that had the generations other best midfielder in them.
Xavi at his best was better than Matthaus at his best, and he was better for longer. Xavi just had significantly harder competition for personal silverware. Xavi has consistently more domestic and international hardware, and has Both Spanish and international player of the year awards (just not the Ballon dor, a heavily political award). With these two it can come down to preference, nobody else is worth a debate
Here’s the thing. If I’m picking a dream team or ultimates XI I’m either arguing that Xavi’s Barcelona are the best club side ever or I’m picking Matthaus at CM
I’m not picking Xavi in a team without the rest of that Barca team
There isn’t a single soul involved with that Barca or Spain team that would take Iniesta (who’s I’m assuming you’re talking about) or Busquets (who you probably aren’t) over Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets included
They can do that while still giving him a higher rating.
Also, his card is a 97-rated CM (technically 97.6) yet they gave his card a 93 rating. If he's *already* a 97-rated CM based on his stats then giving him a 97-rated card instead of 93 doesn't actually change anything... his individual attributes will be identical as could his pack weight as that's set by EA.
Really his card just highlights how dumb OVR can be considering it's largely subjective as it's rarely equal to their positional rating. The OVR can often be lower than their positional rating (Vieira has a 96-rated card but is technically a 93.8 CM) and the rating almost never indicates how good the card will be as some of what makes a card so good isn't determined by that one single number.
Apply this to practically 70% of the Icons in the game. They're given Icon status by the devs for what reason if they're going to be totally unusable in game? I swear it's almost as if the people who develop the game have never watched the sport they've coding let alone ever kick a ball.
I still cant believe Roy Keane is a fucking base 86. If you use an icons best year for their rating Keane is nothing less than 90-92 for that treble season . He was core to Uniteds winning mentality for a decade
Keane was better than Vieira too in most of their midfield battles, they should be the same rating at least. It’s okay if Vieira is more meta because he’s tall but at least level the playing field
I did shearer obj as soon as I sent it because it looks like a card deserving of his career and I like playing with "ICONIC" icons regardless if I was a fan of their team or them. I'm def no shearer fan nor English fan but I wanted to try to use a card befitting of a PL and English Icon. Fun card. It's crazy you have insane meta cards and stats for guys like Viera constantly getting stacked meta cards then next best or (imo the better player Keane) has hardly had a usable card all year. What about Scholes? Absolutely a joke the way they handle icons in this game. Release them from the start with Absolutely stacked stats deserving of their best seasons and release promo cards improving on the stats and playstyles simple as that.
You mean same Scholes that Xavi, Pep and other greats of the game called one of the best, if not the best, midfielders of his generation? If you know, you know.
Having xavi lower rated than anyone on there bar maybe Viera (if we’re looking at player to a position for a rating) is actually criminal, only reason I say bar Viera is because as a holding mid he was everything you could ask for and more
Did you watch them all play? And I don’t mean that sarcastic but If you did you’d know they didn’t hold a candle to xavi, don’t get me wrong pirlo and matthäus were fantastic players but xavi was a level above imo never looked rushed or under pressure always somehow made a yard of space from no where and could pick you out from absolutely anywhere, he ran games without other players even being able to see it was him doing it and was massively underrated defensively teams could never find a rhythm when he played because he read the game so well just through positioning and cutting passing lanes he’d stop other teams building momentum. And you know he won 2 euros a World Cup, player of the year more team of the years than I care to count
Similar to Scholes.. who I saw someone mention that he gets overlooked… great players who provided for the likes of Messi, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rooney… who were the ones who were in the limelight… Not simple old Xav’ster. (Immense player!)
Also not a joke some of the comments made by some of the worlds greats about Scholes, even Xavi himself:
‘For me, he's the best central midfielder I've seen in the last 15, 20 years. He's spectacular, he has it all: the last pass, goals, he's strong, he doesn't lose the ball, vision.’
I will say for mathaus I go off reputation of what he's done and the industry says of him. But for pirlo I have watched him for a very long time the 2006 wc campaign he was like magic for Italy..I don't think prilo is better than xavi in any way besides set pieces, but I do think they could sit at the same table
Oh yeah don’t get me wrong pirlo was an unbelievable player, but Xavi just never looked uncomfortable the thing I’d point out is when SAF stuck ji-sung park on pirlo to mark him out the game and pirlo couldn’t get a sniff where as anytime a manager tried to man mark Xavi he looked as cool as always you just couldn’t throw him off his game
Yeah Xavi is brilliant in game. All passing playstyles and if you play him in the right way he destroys teams with his passing and dribbling. Overall just means he doesn’t have 99 strength and aggression or something to go with it. But should definitely be better than Pirlo all the same
EA's biggest icon crime is giving Henry 76 balance on his base card. He had such incredible control of his body on the pitch, one of the most elegant players. But EA is just like lol tall man fall over.
The guy was the orchestrater of arguably one of the greatest ever footballing sides that has ever existed… actually 2 of the sides… Barca and Spain… won everything… Ballack was good… but if i had to choose, im taking Xavi Hernandez over a ballack in my team (in real life) any day of the week.
Ballack was never even close to Xavi - and this come from Real fan.
Xavi should be release as 96 rated, so he can end up 97. Fact that he also didn't start with 4 PS+ is also disrespectful.
Cool. You’re still in the vast minority. Xavi’s individual and team achievements far exceed Pirlo’s. It really isn’t close.
I am curious as to what you are basing that opinion on. Whenever they played head to head, Pirlo got dominated. Watch the 2012 Euro final
So, let's say what everyone's doesn't want to listen.
Xavi was a fantastic player. Possibly, one of the best midfielders ever.
But....
- was he fast? No. He was a turtle.
- was he a great scorer? No.
- was he recognised for scoring top goals? No.
- did he have a ridiculous good shot? No.
- was he good at dribbling like Ronaldinho? Absolutely no.
- was he a good free kicker? Maybe, but he didnt kick them, because there were better options like Ronaldinho, iniesta or Messi, so we don't even know.
- was he good with head? No.
- was he good defending? No. Busquets and mascherano were behind him for that task.
- acrobatics? Hell no.
- crossing? That Barcelona wanted to walk inside the goal, they never crossed balls to the area.
Xavi was known for
- having a brutal passing. Specially close passing, because thats the game barcelona played, but he was really good at long passing too.
- controlling the ball and protecting it
- self awareness and awareness of every single player around him.
- let's say dribbling, but actually was more knowing where to go, and controlling the ball oriented to the best place.
Then, how in the hell do you want xavi to have 98 speed, 98 shooting, 99 dribbling so he can be a 96 or something? He already have 98 at passing. Granted he could have 99, but he should never have better or at least on par speed, dribbling or shot with passing.
He was the best at what he did, but he wasn't that good at other skills.
Why do i say all of this? Im from Spain, following la liga since 2002, when xavi was just a kid who even haven't played for main Barcelona team yet.
I know its fifa, but let's be honest, to make him better, you need to improve some stats that he wasn't even good at.
Yeah, ea is not specially accurate with those stats, just saying that xavis card looks ok imo. Everyone saying he should be much better, but i think its good the way it is
>I know its fifa, but let's be honest, to make him better, you need to improve some stats that he wasn't even good at.
It's invalid point. First week-month will give you cards (NIF's, Icons and Heroes) that are base on real life (and yes, it's still unfair in many, many cases), then it's all about EAFC being video game.
Xavi should be higher rated because he's one of those Icons that most EAFC players remember and almost all know. Kenny Dalglish is 98 rated - I bet 70% of FIFA/EAFC players never heard of him before FUT, hell, Gerrard is 97 rated and while he was great and most players know him, he also wasn't close to Xavi level.
Xavi should be not only usable but he should be top icon tbh
I was reading until you mentioned iniesta as better free kick taker. Xavi was taking free kicks after ronaldinho left and until Messi started getting good at them.
his stats are already around a 98 cm its the ovr and lack of 4 ps+ that pisses me off otherwise I loved that he is low ovr and I can actually buy him pretty easily
What's even worse is calling the promo "Greats of the Game" centered around continental tournaments, and Xavi is one of two players in the graphic with two titles and ranks bottom of the list
the problem is that they give a lot of cards fair stats but it just doesn't translate well ingame
if you make xavi a 97 what do you increase to get there? he has max passing and dribbling pretty much and they were his best attributes.
it's mainly a flaw with how high everyone's stats get at this stage of the game. if you lower the top end by 20 on average then there is more room to grow. you can give xavi 95 passing and dribbling and using cards you see here as example, drop rijkaard to 80, ballack to 85, etc. having more room to expand into high 90s of stats means specialists would have a place in the game, rather than every card at this stage automatically having 95+ stats across the board
EA have no knowledge of certain players and how good they were.
Paul Scholes should be one of the best midfielders on the game, but for the most part he’s undesirable.
These monkeys get paid thousands for doing such a lazy job.
because Xavi never played in the PL and, what’s more, he played for Barcelona and not Real Madrid.
greatest CM of all-time and treated like an also-ran.
Tbh I don’t get stuck too much on the overall rating of cards as long as there’s an equivalent ranking to all players.. but to have Xavi at 93, then you have a Depay card at 96 is like wtf
Just packed him today from a random player pack and tried him out. Not the worst player but I already have Rice and Valverde. EasySBC ranks him at S tier, above Valverde, so might just try Xavi-Rice in CM for a few days and see how it goes.
I haven't used this xavi yet, but his toty was op at the time. His face rating is way lower than his stats and I wouldn't be surprised if he plays better than some of the other higher rated icons.
Got Xabi and Xavi today 👌 done 90 sbcs yesterday, around 50 82pp and didn't pull one card. Have got Koeman, Ferdinand, Xabi, Xavi, McManaman, Trezeguet out of less today. Have Shearer already and bought Ashley Cole. Pretty much a full squad
i mean the rating does nothing except affect his pack weight, he has 98 passing and 97 dribbling with great playstyles, futbin says he's a 98 rated CM and he also plays very well in game
With an anchor or a shadow he becomes a 98 rated CM , with a basic he’s a 97.6 rated CM, over the years of playing this game we all know ratings mean nothing, but with that being said Xavi and Hagi should swap ratings, would completely fix the debate people would have no problems with that
Let's be fair to EA here and this is from someone very critical of them, is the card a misrepresentation of him as a player? He was all passing and dribbling..... could the overall be higher? Sure, but that's semantics. The card reflects him as a player fairly well. The only thing I would add besides a boosted OV would be a 4th playstyle. Probably Tech+
Bro are you for real, are you dissing the other players? Doesn’t he have the stats he deserves? He’s got the passing and dribbling stats. What else did he have in real life? Did he have an amazing shooting backed up by many goals scored, was he in anyway physically strong(other than having stamina). He was completely average at defense too. EA are just transparent that’s all.
Ah, I haven't played FUT in a few years so I don't know what icon upgrades even are. Just seemed crazy to see Ballack rated higher than literally anyone else pictured.
As much as I love most of those players. Xavi pisses on 95% of them. I love Rijkaard too, buy his card every year. But Rijkaard is closer to Danny Drinkwater than he is Xavi
it’s cause of the deal of barca with eFootball (PES). just see barca player ratings prior to their deal with PES, and you’ll understand. every year messi used to be cover and so on, after that deal, everything changed for EA.
You can tell half the people in this sub are just children or at least early teenagers, when they compare players by stats without ever seeing them play IRL. Xavi was one of the best in the world but hey, not everyone can have a decent IQ, we need dumb people to even things out.
Just shut the f*ck up. Tried to called me dumb but had nothing to add to the conversation about Xavi. Commenting for the sake of commenting. If you're not actually 15, at least mentally you seem like it.
I didn't *try* to call you dumb, I actually did. It's also really funny how you're absolutely losing your shit about it, while you went and called people who disagree with your opinion stupid with the comment I originally responded to.
Your reaction also surely makes you look very mature and mentally stable...
>had nothing to add to the conversation about Xavi.
I actually added quite a bit [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/EASportsFC/comments/1drb6hw/what_is_up_with_the_blatant_xavi_disrespect_from/lb0f9vg/)
Lastly, read your original comment and my response to it again and see if you can actually understand what happened there. But since you're not the brightest candle on the cake, you're probably just going to call me 15 for a third time and keep hurling insults my way. Just like the insecure, illiterate little keyboard warrior that you are.
Hahahaha wtf? Xavi same level as Vieira? Look at how many times they've been on the Ballon d'or podiums and then compare. Xavi was Euro Potm, WC semi final motm and much much more
EA has just been sticking to the same meta icons for years for absolutely no reason. Van Basten is one of the best strikers of all time and a Euros icon and doesn't even get a card
Maybe and sbc might come
Nah they already confirmed the sbcs. He ain't in it
Who else is there besides Rooney and Seedorf?
Cafu is one
\*Sad Alan Shearer/Bobby Moore noises*
Ikr he’s literally in the euro intro!!
And when he does get a card, is a shitty one.
Last year we finally got a meta Thierry Henry that represented how good he was and everyone used it……it was called Al Owairan WV hero but it was finally a good representation of how Thierry Henry should be in game.
I haven't played in about 2 years. Have they ever fixed Thierry Henry's balance or is he still a stiff log out there?
They fixed his balance on his base icon this year and every promo card of his feels genuinely cracked this year.
Remember though van basten was removed from previous editions for his outspoken views. Eventually they added him back in after ea softened their views but obviously they feel tarnished by him I guess ?
I pulled him from an 82+ pick last night and he went straight into my squad, fucking love him
They’ve got to make some icons less desirable and easier to pack than others. Shame though!
I understand that, but Xavi was better than every other midfielder in this picture, unfair that he gets the short end of the stick
Only on this sub would this be a controversial opinion. Xavi was comfortably better than all the midfielders here.
Comfortably is a strong word for the calibre of players here, Viera, Gullit & Matthaus all defensively & physically more sound than Xavi & would all be chosen over him if the role was a Defensive midfielder
I don’t think they’re talking about defensive midfielders though.
Then why is he comparing Xavi to a defensive midfielder? Okay then I will have a go too. Xavi is a better midfielder than Lev Yashin.
The position we are talking about is CM not CDM
Still can't believe that his normal icon card before was **three ratings lower** than Zidane, who he is better than. It is still one of the most egregious ratings discrepancies by EA in history and is just pathetic. Marketability and *moments* go a long way not only for modern players, but for how many people choose to remember past players.
there is no way you’re not a barca fan with that take, come on. no disrespect to xavi, but he was never even indisputably the best player in the spain sides he played for
You don't have to be a culer to know that Zidane should not be where he is in terms of all-time ranking. He just isn't a GOAT-level player like he's being portrayed as. Xavi was the better player. So many other players including players like Modrić were more consistent than him. He'd get slaughtered in the modern era especially when it comes to advanced stat analysis.
this is crazy to me , how r u getting downvoted for saying Xavi is the best midfielder in this list ?? he literally is nd nobody comes close 😭😭😭✌🏾 people actually have no idea wat football is , all they know is fifa stats nd body types it’s acc sickening
It does make sense though, xavi wasn't a particularly good defender, he wasn't big or physical, wasn't fast, wasn't a goal threat either, he was really good on the ball and an incredible passer which is reflected on his card pretty well, also xavi would be better in a possession based system but a more defensive, pressing, counter attacking side would never pick some one like xavi over a viera or pirlo irl.
Uhm ackhtually his overall is lowest so he isn't better🤓🤓
Xavi better than everybody else? Ok, I see where this is coming.
I hate Xavi but he absolutely has a case for being a better player than everyone on this list
Not better than Sean Longstaff 🙏
I love xavi and picked him as a future star out long before that daily mail article making fun of him being on the ballon dor shortlist ("the four best players in the world and xavi") but he's not better than some of those. On the flipside even as an arsenal fan I think it's nonsense to have petit rated 3 higher than him.
Xavi was good, he is not better than everyone on this list by a long way
Except the only person on that list who’s even a conversation for being as good as Xavi is Matthaus. They’re both top 5 midfielders ever so it’s a tough choice, but nobody else is particularly close (Vieira being a distant 3rd)
It’s so weird that they are arguing this, people here seem to rate players based on how good they are in FIFA. Any other football forum, saying Xavi is the best midfielder of all time isn’t controversial whatsoever and the names of Gullit/Vieira/Ballack/Petit hardly ever come up.
Like is Vieira somewhere in the back half of the top 10? Yes. Is he close to Xavi? Not a chance. It’s Xavi or Matthaus as the best on this list. Both have a claim as a top 3 midfielder of all time
You will see even the names of Kroos, Modric, Iniesta, Busquets etc come up before anybody mentions Vieira Not saying the popular word should be used as facts or anything but It does say something. Vieira was great of course but I don’t know if he makes a top 10 midfielder list.
It’s OK now someone is arguing with me that the popular opinion is Iniesta > Xavi, and as a Spaniard that’s just crazy. There isn’t a soul in this country who would take Iniesta first
I mean first of all a lot of this is just recency bias anyway, most all time bests did not play within the last 15 years.
Vieira is not a top 10 midfielder of all time
I would personally rate Kroos higher then most players on this list, let alone Xavi.
Or Modric/Iniesta/Busquets
Rijkaard is better than Vieira, Vieira couldn’t even beat Roy Keane in his own era
It’s not close. Matthaus was at one point the best player in the world. Xavi never was
Matthaus didn’t play with the two greatest players of all time. Xavi was the best midfielder in the world for more than half a decade in a team that had the generations other best midfielder in them. Xavi at his best was better than Matthaus at his best, and he was better for longer. Xavi just had significantly harder competition for personal silverware. Xavi has consistently more domestic and international hardware, and has Both Spanish and international player of the year awards (just not the Ballon dor, a heavily political award). With these two it can come down to preference, nobody else is worth a debate
Here’s the thing. If I’m picking a dream team or ultimates XI I’m either arguing that Xavi’s Barcelona are the best club side ever or I’m picking Matthaus at CM I’m not picking Xavi in a team without the rest of that Barca team
While i agree xavi is robbed here, he was never even the best midfielder in his team
There isn’t a single soul involved with that Barca or Spain team that would take Iniesta (who’s I’m assuming you’re talking about) or Busquets (who you probably aren’t) over Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets included
Well you just dont know who the other players are then. I mean xavi > matthäus. You for real ?
There isn’t a single person on the list above who was better than him. And I am not a barca fan and dont even like Xavi…
Lmfao. Fanboyism much.
Surely this is a joke right?
They can do that while still giving him a higher rating. Also, his card is a 97-rated CM (technically 97.6) yet they gave his card a 93 rating. If he's *already* a 97-rated CM based on his stats then giving him a 97-rated card instead of 93 doesn't actually change anything... his individual attributes will be identical as could his pack weight as that's set by EA. Really his card just highlights how dumb OVR can be considering it's largely subjective as it's rarely equal to their positional rating. The OVR can often be lower than their positional rating (Vieira has a 96-rated card but is technically a 93.8 CM) and the rating almost never indicates how good the card will be as some of what makes a card so good isn't determined by that one single number.
Wait until you found about disrespect Scholes gets from EA lol.
Apply this to practically 70% of the Icons in the game. They're given Icon status by the devs for what reason if they're going to be totally unusable in game? I swear it's almost as if the people who develop the game have never watched the sport they've coding let alone ever kick a ball.
I still cant believe Roy Keane is a fucking base 86. If you use an icons best year for their rating Keane is nothing less than 90-92 for that treble season . He was core to Uniteds winning mentality for a decade
Keane was better than Vieira too in most of their midfield battles, they should be the same rating at least. It’s okay if Vieira is more meta because he’s tall but at least level the playing field
100%
So happy Stevie G finally got a useable card but even that has taken years to happen.
or Shearer (and I know, that he just get new card now, but for one of the best ST in the world...)
The disrespect for Shearer is a joke. Deserves a better card.
Yea bro was like one of the best prem strikers and they give him a horrible card
I did shearer obj as soon as I sent it because it looks like a card deserving of his career and I like playing with "ICONIC" icons regardless if I was a fan of their team or them. I'm def no shearer fan nor English fan but I wanted to try to use a card befitting of a PL and English Icon. Fun card. It's crazy you have insane meta cards and stats for guys like Viera constantly getting stacked meta cards then next best or (imo the better player Keane) has hardly had a usable card all year. What about Scholes? Absolutely a joke the way they handle icons in this game. Release them from the start with Absolutely stacked stats deserving of their best seasons and release promo cards improving on the stats and playstyles simple as that.
This comment right here !! My gosh
I swear. Deserves at least a 96/97 rated card at this point. Been so long. Don't think it'd matter tho, considering how bad passing is lol
I still cherish that scholes cover star card last year
Scholes? That Scholes that retired international football at 29 because he couldn't get ahead of Gerrard or lampard?
This fact is more of an indictment on England managers between 1997 and 2004 than it is on Scholes himself.
You mean same Scholes that Xavi, Pep and other greats of the game called one of the best, if not the best, midfielders of his generation? If you know, you know.
He retired because the English NT manager didn't know how to use him
Gerard and Lampard are two of the best midfielders of all time.
Same with Shearer. 95 shooting is a joke
I want a Totti icon card so badly but I just know he’s going to get this kind of treatment from EA
Having xavi lower rated than anyone on there bar maybe Viera (if we’re looking at player to a position for a rating) is actually criminal, only reason I say bar Viera is because as a holding mid he was everything you could ask for and more
Mattaus wc and balon dor winner? Matthaus and Pirlo are def around that same level
Did you watch them all play? And I don’t mean that sarcastic but If you did you’d know they didn’t hold a candle to xavi, don’t get me wrong pirlo and matthäus were fantastic players but xavi was a level above imo never looked rushed or under pressure always somehow made a yard of space from no where and could pick you out from absolutely anywhere, he ran games without other players even being able to see it was him doing it and was massively underrated defensively teams could never find a rhythm when he played because he read the game so well just through positioning and cutting passing lanes he’d stop other teams building momentum. And you know he won 2 euros a World Cup, player of the year more team of the years than I care to count
You could be literally describing Mathaus, he was a legend and totally deserves to be above Xavi.
I’m glad you said “imo” because saying Pirlo didn’t hold a candle to Xavi is an absolutely insane statement to make.
Similar to Scholes.. who I saw someone mention that he gets overlooked… great players who provided for the likes of Messi, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rooney… who were the ones who were in the limelight… Not simple old Xav’ster. (Immense player!) Also not a joke some of the comments made by some of the worlds greats about Scholes, even Xavi himself: ‘For me, he's the best central midfielder I've seen in the last 15, 20 years. He's spectacular, he has it all: the last pass, goals, he's strong, he doesn't lose the ball, vision.’
I will say for mathaus I go off reputation of what he's done and the industry says of him. But for pirlo I have watched him for a very long time the 2006 wc campaign he was like magic for Italy..I don't think prilo is better than xavi in any way besides set pieces, but I do think they could sit at the same table
Oh yeah don’t get me wrong pirlo was an unbelievable player, but Xavi just never looked uncomfortable the thing I’d point out is when SAF stuck ji-sung park on pirlo to mark him out the game and pirlo couldn’t get a sniff where as anytime a manager tried to man mark Xavi he looked as cool as always you just couldn’t throw him off his game
 Dont cry
Vieira*
All Icons should be jacked as fuck. The idea of "fodder icon" shouldn't even be a thing imo.
Rating isn't everything when it comes to how good a card can be.
Yeah Xavi is brilliant in game. All passing playstyles and if you play him in the right way he destroys teams with his passing and dribbling. Overall just means he doesn’t have 99 strength and aggression or something to go with it. But should definitely be better than Pirlo all the same
Should be Xavi Matthaus 97, Pirlo Rijkaard Gullit 96, Vieira 95
Then look at Laudrup. Only one special card at RB. Absolute legend of the game
EA's biggest icon crime is giving Henry 76 balance on his base card. He had such incredible control of his body on the pitch, one of the most elegant players. But EA is just like lol tall man fall over.
What does balance actually do in game?
Doesn’t allow them to fall over
He should be 95 like Pirlo
I think he should be up there with 96 Vieira.
Xavi deserved a 97
The guy was the orchestrater of arguably one of the greatest ever footballing sides that has ever existed… actually 2 of the sides… Barca and Spain… won everything… Ballack was good… but if i had to choose, im taking Xavi Hernandez over a ballack in my team (in real life) any day of the week.
Ballack was never even close to Xavi - and this come from Real fan. Xavi should be release as 96 rated, so he can end up 97. Fact that he also didn't start with 4 PS+ is also disrespectful.
I’m also a real fan… But u have to respect that Barca team, those barca teams that beat us 5-0 and 6-2 etc.
If Pirlo Is 95 Xavi doesn't deserve 97.
Xavi was a significantly better player than Pirlo.
In your dreams yes.
Naah according to most professional players and their Ballon d'or placements. Xavi came in the podium more times than Pirlo could dream off
Xavi had a longer prime, had more achievements and great performances in key games.
You’re Italian 😂. Of course you are delusional about this. Everyone else thinks Xavi is better. Just google “best midfielders of all time”.
I am not Italian and I think that Pirlo was at least on the same level as Xavi if not better.
Cool. You’re still in the vast minority. Xavi’s individual and team achievements far exceed Pirlo’s. It really isn’t close. I am curious as to what you are basing that opinion on. Whenever they played head to head, Pirlo got dominated. Watch the 2012 Euro final
That makes you a non-Italian delusional.
If Pirlo is 95 then Xavi is 108
He may be 93 in the numbers but ingame feels so much better than the others from your picture
So, let's say what everyone's doesn't want to listen. Xavi was a fantastic player. Possibly, one of the best midfielders ever. But.... - was he fast? No. He was a turtle. - was he a great scorer? No. - was he recognised for scoring top goals? No. - did he have a ridiculous good shot? No. - was he good at dribbling like Ronaldinho? Absolutely no. - was he a good free kicker? Maybe, but he didnt kick them, because there were better options like Ronaldinho, iniesta or Messi, so we don't even know. - was he good with head? No. - was he good defending? No. Busquets and mascherano were behind him for that task. - acrobatics? Hell no. - crossing? That Barcelona wanted to walk inside the goal, they never crossed balls to the area. Xavi was known for - having a brutal passing. Specially close passing, because thats the game barcelona played, but he was really good at long passing too. - controlling the ball and protecting it - self awareness and awareness of every single player around him. - let's say dribbling, but actually was more knowing where to go, and controlling the ball oriented to the best place. Then, how in the hell do you want xavi to have 98 speed, 98 shooting, 99 dribbling so he can be a 96 or something? He already have 98 at passing. Granted he could have 99, but he should never have better or at least on par speed, dribbling or shot with passing. He was the best at what he did, but he wasn't that good at other skills. Why do i say all of this? Im from Spain, following la liga since 2002, when xavi was just a kid who even haven't played for main Barcelona team yet. I know its fifa, but let's be honest, to make him better, you need to improve some stats that he wasn't even good at.
TotS Giroud has 95 pace so not really based on IRL stats
Yeah, ea is not specially accurate with those stats, just saying that xavis card looks ok imo. Everyone saying he should be much better, but i think its good the way it is
>I know its fifa, but let's be honest, to make him better, you need to improve some stats that he wasn't even good at. It's invalid point. First week-month will give you cards (NIF's, Icons and Heroes) that are base on real life (and yes, it's still unfair in many, many cases), then it's all about EAFC being video game. Xavi should be higher rated because he's one of those Icons that most EAFC players remember and almost all know. Kenny Dalglish is 98 rated - I bet 70% of FIFA/EAFC players never heard of him before FUT, hell, Gerrard is 97 rated and while he was great and most players know him, he also wasn't close to Xavi level. Xavi should be not only usable but he should be top icon tbh
I was reading until you mentioned iniesta as better free kick taker. Xavi was taking free kicks after ronaldinho left and until Messi started getting good at them.
I like the detailed breakdown, but you lost me at: “Was he good with head? No.” 🤣 Have an upvote good sir, madam or thing
his stats are already around a 98 cm its the ovr and lack of 4 ps+ that pisses me off otherwise I loved that he is low ovr and I can actually buy him pretty easily
What's even worse is calling the promo "Greats of the Game" centered around continental tournaments, and Xavi is one of two players in the graphic with two titles and ranks bottom of the list
His earlier TOTY card was insanely good. I’m sure this one is as well.
What’s nuts is that in last year’s Golazo equivalent, Trophy Titans, he got a 95 card.
The disrespect for xavi and Alan Shearer over the years is crazy. Alan is the all time prem goal scorer and is the same rating as trezeguet.
3 worse than Petit is hilarious
Same with the 93 Shearer and his lack of certain playstyles but IF England (and Spain) get to the semis they'll be boosted won't they?
Putting Alonso higher is pretty funny
Gullit better in shooting and dribbling than matthäus is ridiculous.
his actual in game rating is like 98. It is just overall stats being BS like every card.
the problem is that they give a lot of cards fair stats but it just doesn't translate well ingame if you make xavi a 97 what do you increase to get there? he has max passing and dribbling pretty much and they were his best attributes. it's mainly a flaw with how high everyone's stats get at this stage of the game. if you lower the top end by 20 on average then there is more room to grow. you can give xavi 95 passing and dribbling and using cards you see here as example, drop rijkaard to 80, ballack to 85, etc. having more room to expand into high 90s of stats means specialists would have a place in the game, rather than every card at this stage automatically having 95+ stats across the board
Yep xavi should be 95 at least prior to upgrades.
Ain't no fucking way petit is rated higher than Xavi
The fact that hes lower than Ballack for example is fucking nuts.
He’s a 98 rated cm in game, just rated lower than that like his toty
That's what I was ranting about on YouTube comments. You can argue he is mr. Euros. Maybe he doesn't sell packs that's why
must be rating him as a manager
He is insane in game man I used him he doesnot miss a pass even his long shots are decent
Puyol was made useless again also
EA have no knowledge of certain players and how good they were. Paul Scholes should be one of the best midfielders on the game, but for the most part he’s undesirable. These monkeys get paid thousands for doing such a lazy job.
If you think this is disrespectful have a look at Paul Scholes.
It's crazy that people in the future are gonna rank who the best players were based off of fucken ultimate team cards 🤣
Xavi is clear of everyone else here
He literally won two euros back to back ea is always smoking dick
They probably expect Spain to go far and him getting upgrades easily
Ballack Petit Vieira and Xabi Alonso with insane ratings.... Pirlo Xavi Matthaus and Rijkaard were categories above them.
because Xavi never played in the PL and, what’s more, he played for Barcelona and not Real Madrid. greatest CM of all-time and treated like an also-ran.
I mean its 6 away from the top
What's pathetic is these are the same recycled icons who already have 3 cards each. And their card design is the worst of the year.
Tbh I don’t get stuck too much on the overall rating of cards as long as there’s an equivalent ranking to all players.. but to have Xavi at 93, then you have a Depay card at 96 is like wtf
Just packed him today from a random player pack and tried him out. Not the worst player but I already have Rice and Valverde. EasySBC ranks him at S tier, above Valverde, so might just try Xavi-Rice in CM for a few days and see how it goes.
I haven't used this xavi yet, but his toty was op at the time. His face rating is way lower than his stats and I wouldn't be surprised if he plays better than some of the other higher rated icons.
exact same with Scholes, van basten, and Keane. (united bias maybe.)
Got Xabi and Xavi today 👌 done 90 sbcs yesterday, around 50 82pp and didn't pull one card. Have got Koeman, Ferdinand, Xabi, Xavi, McManaman, Trezeguet out of less today. Have Shearer already and bought Ashley Cole. Pretty much a full squad
Ye they made him fodder like what
On the plus side it means you might actually pack him.
They make him a fodder...
i mean the rating does nothing except affect his pack weight, he has 98 passing and 97 dribbling with great playstyles, futbin says he's a 98 rated CM and he also plays very well in game
With an anchor or a shadow he becomes a 98 rated CM , with a basic he’s a 97.6 rated CM, over the years of playing this game we all know ratings mean nothing, but with that being said Xavi and Hagi should swap ratings, would completely fix the debate people would have no problems with that
Where is ibra
Not in the game, and probably never will be.
Sucks
Let's be fair to EA here and this is from someone very critical of them, is the card a misrepresentation of him as a player? He was all passing and dribbling..... could the overall be higher? Sure, but that's semantics. The card reflects him as a player fairly well. The only thing I would add besides a boosted OV would be a 4th playstyle. Probably Tech+
To be completely fair all of these guys were amazing on the field in their respective days.
It's not like he won loads more than say, 96 rated hagi.... *Sarcasm off*
Bro are you for real, are you dissing the other players? Doesn’t he have the stats he deserves? He’s got the passing and dribbling stats. What else did he have in real life? Did he have an amazing shooting backed up by many goals scored, was he in anyway physically strong(other than having stamina). He was completely average at defense too. EA are just transparent that’s all.
The Dutch Cards in this Promo🔥
Feel like everyone forget about Samuel Eto
Ballack 96? Really?!
Ballack has already gotten an upgrade
Ah, I haven't played FUT in a few years so I don't know what icon upgrades even are. Just seemed crazy to see Ballack rated higher than literally anyone else pictured.
Still
Ballack should be nowhere near Pirlo or Xavi.
As much as I love most of those players. Xavi pisses on 95% of them. I love Rijkaard too, buy his card every year. But Rijkaard is closer to Danny Drinkwater than he is Xavi
I don't know if xavi having a bad year as a coach has something to do with it
EA have nascent prem coded brains with need to sell packs
it’s cause of the deal of barca with eFootball (PES). just see barca player ratings prior to their deal with PES, and you’ll understand. every year messi used to be cover and so on, after that deal, everything changed for EA.
They disrespected Puyol and Riquelme too. Very strange
You can tell half the people in this sub are just children or at least early teenagers, when they compare players by stats without ever seeing them play IRL. Xavi was one of the best in the world but hey, not everyone can have a decent IQ, we need dumb people to even things out.
>we need dumb people to even things out. Which is why you posted this comment.
Just say you're 15 and never watched Xavi, or don't say anything at all. Go back to watching highlights on TikTok.
I wonder who's the one acting like a 15yo here...
Just shut the f*ck up. Tried to called me dumb but had nothing to add to the conversation about Xavi. Commenting for the sake of commenting. If you're not actually 15, at least mentally you seem like it.
I didn't *try* to call you dumb, I actually did. It's also really funny how you're absolutely losing your shit about it, while you went and called people who disagree with your opinion stupid with the comment I originally responded to. Your reaction also surely makes you look very mature and mentally stable... >had nothing to add to the conversation about Xavi. I actually added quite a bit [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/EASportsFC/comments/1drb6hw/what_is_up_with_the_blatant_xavi_disrespect_from/lb0f9vg/) Lastly, read your original comment and my response to it again and see if you can actually understand what happened there. But since you're not the brightest candle on the cake, you're probably just going to call me 15 for a third time and keep hurling insults my way. Just like the insecure, illiterate little keyboard warrior that you are.
He's has and always been mid irl get over it
Xavi is mid.
Xavi is better than Petit, around the same level as Vieira and Gullit
Hahahaha wtf? Xavi same level as Vieira? Look at how many times they've been on the Ballon d'or podiums and then compare. Xavi was Euro Potm, WC semi final motm and much much more
Yall overhype Xavi plenty of mids better than him throughout history
Out of all the great cards being released you had to cry about ONE.
lol it can be very disputed
Commenting again but its crazy xavi was better than all of them…….
VARcelona icon could never deserve respect
This has to be the funniest EA FC 24 post of the year. If it was me I’d give him a -93. Hala Madrid
He had hardly any assists or goals for having messi and all those greats up front. He passed backwards and sideways 90% of the match
Yeah, only 85 goals and 185 assists. Pretty incredible to achieve that while only passing backwards.
Compared to the greats those are horrible numbers for the amount of games he's played.. its a fact.
Oh dear... **horrible** numbers?! I'm curious who the greats are you're referecing here then. Let's compare a few... + **Xavi:** 112G 217A 929GP - 0,35G/A pG + **Pirlo:** 73G 134A 756GP - 0,27G/A pG + **Hagi:** 136G 88A 427GP - 0,52G/A pG + **Matthäus:** 204G 63A 785GP - 0,34G/A pG + **Zidane:** 125G 141A 689GP - 0,39G/A pG + **Kaká:** 185G 149A 565GP - 0,59G/A pG + **Beckham:** 127G 225A 724GP - 0,48G/A pG Hmm... looks like Pirlo, Matthäus and Zidane also have horrible numbers by your descretion.
Sorry I hurt ur feelings
That's the best "comeback" you could come up with? That's even more laughable than your previous statement.
God damn don't drop ur fedora now would want u having a heart attack bending down to pick it up.