I have never and will never see a single better individual performance in the flesh than his v Man U in the 4-0 - it was simply unbelievable
What a footballer, that laser goal was a cracker, not many players in world football capable of that strike
Was big into Barcelona back in the late 00's and remember all too well his breakthrough there and how obvious his ceiling was, a natural heir to Xavi or Iniesta. Was a tragedy for Barcelona at the time to lose him and I sadly didn't see much of him with Bayern because he's my favourite type of footballer to watch, a pure genius that just sees the game happening in slow motion. Makes everyone around him better and can dictate the tempo of an entire game.
I was in Anfield v Southampton when he absolutely ran the show from the centre circle. On his day, our best MF since Gerrard/Xabi Alonso.
Remember he came on I think for his debut against Chelsea at half time and ended the game with more passes than everyone else…I was soooo excited! Big part of the season we were 2 games from the quad…truly a wonderful player