Despite the mass of negative press that has surrounded Barcelona over the past two to three seasons and particularly right now in the wake of the Casa Negreira referee payments scandal, they have been having a great time on the pitch.

The Blaugrana are sitting very pretty at the top of La Liga with a 12-point lead over current champions Real Madrid and have the lead in the Copa del Rey semi-final tie between the two sides, meaning they are well set to win two trophies this season.

The European campaign may have not gone to plan after dropping out of the Champions League and then being booted out of the Europa League by Manchester United, but Xavi Hernandez is certainly doing a really good job on the pitch with a squad that still needs a lot of work.