The True Measure of Xavi's Passing Genius

We often hear about Barcelona and their short-passing game heretofore known as "tiki-taka" (this will be the last time this phrase will be written by me).  Barcelona's ridiculous team-wide ~90% passing percentage is often explained away by the team's reliance on short passes, which are of course completed at a much higher rate than longer passes.  In this prism of thinking, therefore, it may be easy to dismiss Xavi's 95% pass completion percentage as a product of his team's system.  In many ways this is probably true. Approximately 88 of Xavi's 96 completed passes per game are short passes.  But what about the other 8?  The long passes?  233 of 248 (94%).  The man is a genius (and the red dot).

Many of the other long ball standouts are familiar names (Montolivo, Pirlo).  But what about some of the other lesser-known names? Can we expect to see future great things from Thiago Alcantera?

Name	Team	Pos	Apps	Avg P	PS%	Long Ball / 90 min	Succ.	Total	% Complete
Riccardo Montolivo	AC Milan	M(C)	31(1)	66.5	86.4	12.1	386	456	84.6%
Andrea Pirlo	Juventus	M(C)	32	78.7	87.3	10.6	339	413	82.1%
Roberto Trashorras	Rayo Vallecano	M(CR)	31(4)	66.7	85.4	9.9	346	435	79.5%
David Pizarro	Fiorentina	DM(C)	28(1)	63.1	88.1	9.8	384	460	83.5%
Bastian Schweinsteiger	Bayern Munich	M(C)	27(1)	74	87.9	9.3	260	324	80.2%
Steven Gerrard	Liverpool	M(C)	36	66.3	85.5	8.4	303	393	77.1%
Dante	Bayern Munich	D(C)	29	66.4	90.6	8.3	242	301	80.4%
Xavi	Barcelona	M(C)	24(6)	96.2	94.8	7.8	233	248	94.0%
Gonzalo Rodriguez	Fiorentina	D(C)	35	45.2	85.3	7.8	274	385	71.2%
Daniele Conti	Cagliari	DM(C)	29	66.7	87.3	7.7	223	286	78.0%
Philippe Mexes	AC Milan	D(C)	25	48.8	91.1	7.6	190	229	83.0%
Javier Mascherano	Barcelona	D(C),DM(C)	21(4)	52.7	90.1	7.1	178	234	76.1%
Daniele De Rossi	Roma	D(C),DM(C)	21(4)	52.8	84	7	174	234	74.4%
Maxime Gonalons	Lyon	DM(C)	35	63.5	88	6.8	237	287	82.6%
Cristian Zapata	AC Milan	D(CR)	22(1)	44.8	90.4	6.8	156	190	82.1%
Gökhan Inler	Napoli	AM(C)	25(6)	51.7	85.5	6.5	203	262	77.5%
Ilkay Gündogan	Borussia Dor...	M(C)	26(2)	58.6	86.2	6.2	173	225	76.9%
Giorgio Chiellini	Juventus	D(CL)	23(1)	58.7	90.3	6	145	174	83.3%
Ki Sung-Yueng	Swansea	DM(C)	20(9)	55.8	92.7	5.9	172	195	88.2%
Milan Badelj	Hamburger SV	M(C)	30(1)	58.1	81.5	5.9	182	236	77.1%
Yaya Touré	Manchester City	M(C)	32	78.9	88.9	5.5	175	210	83.3%
Michael Mancienne	Hamburger SV	D(C),DM(C)	21	49.5	85.8	5.5	115	147	78.2%
Mikel Arteta	Arsenal	DM(C),M(L)	34	80.9	91.5	5.3	179	205	87.3%
Gary Medel	Sevilla	DM(C)	31(1)	51.6	87.5	5.1	164	211	77.7%
Thiago Alcántara	Barcelona	M(C)	15(12)	65.2	91.8	4.9	131	141	92.9%
Santiago Cazorla	Arsenal	M(CLR)	37(1)	65	86.8	4.9	185	230	80.4%
James McCarthy	Wigan	M(CL)	38	57.6	87.3	4.7	178	232	76.7%
Daniel Parejo	Valencia	M(C)	20(7)	49.1	84.9	4.6	125	142	88.0%
Jan Polak	Wolfsburg	DM(C)	26(1)	42.7	85.6	4.6	125	154	81.2%