Xavi is a regulator, growling whenever his teammate drifts outside the ‘zone’. This zone is the various triangles’ he forms with the 10 players on the pitch. If fame creeps into a player eventually disrupting the structure of the team, Xavi will remind him of his place. Take…

A few months ago, a few frustrated fans and Barcelona critics had all but deserted hopes of any noteworthy improvement for Barcelona under Tito Vilanova, the man who had been under Pep Guardiola’s wing for four seasons. Vilanova, who turned 43 a few weeks ago, surprised them all.…