'I never imagined he'd be the best player in history' - Xavi writes open letter about Lionel Messi

Messi, who won his fifth Ballon d’Or in Zurich on Monday, is the finest footballer of all time, according to Xavi, and the legendary midfielder explained why in a powerful editorial for Spanish newspaper El Pais.

"You could tell he was different," Xavi said in the open letter published in the newspaper.

"Leo, above all, had a talent that is the hardest to achieve: he understood the game. He could pass well and he could dribble around anyone you put in front of him: he used to leave the best defender we had on the ground.

"A while after he came to the first team we shared a trip and I discovered an educated boy, who was respectful, humble and not conceited at all.

"And that makes him exemplary, because being what he is now, being the best, he hasn't lost those values, he hasn't lost a bit of that humility and he respects his team-mates. I think Leo never wanted to be different from the others."

According to Xavi, the excellence of Messi over a long period of time is what makes him such an incomparable talent.

"He was different, but he was only 16 years old, so I thought he'd be good, but I knew that football is very complicated, that a lot of things interfere, I never imagined he'd be the best player in history," Xavi said.

"Ever since I've known him he hasn't stopped evolving. He improved what he had and he has also turned himself into a goalscorer.

"He didn't use to score so much and now he scores everything, he takes free kicks. And, like Pep [Guardiola] says, he dominates every aspect of the game.

"We'll never see something similar. Not only because of what he can do, but because of the time that he's been doing it for.

"Others have lasted two years, three; he seems to have no end in sight."

As always, praise is all the more powerful and telling when it comes from someone close to an individual. That Xavi was such a distinguished player for Barcelona himself makes this particular set of quotes all the more significant. It is obviously very debatable whether Messi is the best player ever, but Xavi makes a compelling case with quotes which come across as emotional and heartfelt. Most importantly, it is the longevity of Messi's brilliance that makes him so special in Xavi's eyes, and it's very hard to disagree with his reasoning.