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Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Gerard Piqué, Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Dani Alves were part of both treble-winning teams. [61] Xavi's 767 appearances was a club record until surpassed by Lionel Messi in March 2021. [62]
Iniesta was one of the three finalists for the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or alongside Xavi and Messi, placing as runner-up behind the Argentine. [49] Iniesta started the 2011–12 season by scoring the opening goal in the second leg of the Supercopa de España against rivals Real Madrid. Barcelona went on to win the match 3–2 and the cup 5–4 on ...
Xavi was the second Barcelona player in the top three, finishing a further 63 points behind Ronaldo. Messi's win made him the first Argentine-born player to win the award since Omar Sívori in 1961; however, Sívori had taken Italian citizenship by that time and is recognised to have won the Ballon d'Or as an Italian player.
In a rehearsed corner move, Xavi played the ball back to the edge of the penalty area towards Messi, but the tournament's top scorer was unable to make a proper connection. [105] Nevertheless, Barça retained possession through some sharp inter-passing involving Xavi and Iniesta. [106]
Andrés Iniesta, who scored Spain's World Cup-winning goal in 2010 and was one of the key players who made Barcelona's tiki-taka thrive for so long, announced his retirement from soccer on Tuesday.
The 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala was the inaugural year for FIFA's awards for the top football players and coaches of the year. The gala is a continuation of the FIFA World Player Gala and a result of merging the FIFA Men's World Player of the Year award with the Ballon d'Or, previously created and presented by France Football to the top men's player in Europe.
Messi claimed the prize by a record vote with a considerable wide margin, receiving 1,073 votes to Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo's 352 votes, who finished second after winning the year before. Teammates Xavi and Iniesta finished in third and fifth respectively, closing out 2009 as one of the most memorable years in Barcelona history. [12]
In 2010, La Masia became the first youth academy to have trained all three finalists for the Ballon d'Or in a single year: Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi. [2] La Masia is also the name of FC Barcelona's football training facilities, originally located near the Camp Nou in the Les Corts district of Barcelona.