Do you remember the 4-year-old girl named Alleke who enquired “Where’s Xavi?”. The popular video touched the hearts of fans around the world. Some people got together and ensured that Alleke’s dream to meet Xavi Hernandez came true. Kelly, Alleke’s father, shares this wonderful story with totalBarca in an exclusive interview.


totalBarca: Let’s start with the famous “Where’s Xavi?” video. Up to this day, this video has been viewed more than 87,000 times. I imagine that being viewed by such a big audience is impressive for a 4-year-old girl. Does Alleke feel like a star? And how did you as her parent feel about this? Did you ever expect such popularity?

Kelly: Like most kids her age, Alleke has no concept of how amazing it is that she met Xavi, a World Cup champion and contender for the Ballon d’Or. She fully expected that when we saw Xavi on the bus in Madrid after Spain’s World Cup victory that he would want to stop and talk to her because he was her favorite player, so she wasn’t surprised either when she was invited to Barcelona to meet him in person. In her mind, she was thinking, “Of course this player I’ve been cheering for wants to meet me!”

tB: Tell us about THIS DAY, the day of the arrival of the Spanish team to Madrid. We all know about the pictures from TV & photos, but can you describe the atmosphere you and your kids experienced?

K: True to the stereotype, Spain knows how to throw a good party! During the World Cup games the bars were packed with people of all ages cheering and arguing with the TV. Bartenders gave out free drinks and tapas when Spain scored goals. We watched a few games at home with the windows open (because Madrid gets very hot in the summer), and for every missed opportunity or goal scored, we could hear neighbors in all the apartments down the street cheering in their homes. In the words of one of my Spanish friends, it really felt like the World Cup is “the one event in Spain that can unify the whole country.”

tB: Do you follow football (soccer)? I imagine that in Spain during World Cup it was almost impossible to not watch games of the Spanish National Team, but how is it in your everyday life?

K: I was a soccerhead in high school – played varsity for three years, team captain, played every day in the summer, didn’t miss a World Cup game. When we first moved to Spain we followed Real Madrid first when we lived in Madrid and then Barca pretty religiously when we moved to Castellón de la Plana. Since having kids we’re lucky if we catch the important games, although we still never miss a World Cup game where Spain is playing. Some of the first major kicks my wife felt during her pregnancy with Alleke were during Barca games, and she was in utero when we went to Germany during the last World Cup.

tB: How did Alleke’s admiration for Xavi start? Did you daughter give any signal before that she liked Xavi? Was there a match or a goal or something that caught her eye and made her single out Xavi?

K: During the World Cup this summer, Alleke just started cheering for Xavi on her own and asking us to point him out for her. The funny thing was she was so cute cheering “Xavi, Xavi, Xavi” during every World Cup game that our friends started joining in, and this became our World Cup chant. I really don’t know why Alleke chose Xavi as her favorite player, but I’m happy with her choice. I’m a Protestant pastor by profession, and when I watch sports, I’m often interested in the character of the players – how skilled they are in humility, self-control, selflessness, and playing well with others. From what I know of Xavi, he seems like a great role model for little kids. He seems to be a good person with strong character.

tB: And there was the video, hundreds of views and many people wrote in the comments “Xavi must meet this girl!!”. Did you ever imagine that you will meet Xavi in person?

K: I originally uploaded the video to YouTube simply because I though it was cute. I had no expectation at that point that Alleke would ever get the chance to meet Xavi. When various people began leaving comments or sending me emails saying they had contacted the media, I thought maybe it would happen. Still, I was shocked when we were finally there at the TV studio with Xavi in person.

tB: So tell us a little bit about the backstage of this meeting? How did all this happen?

K: TV3, the Catalán station, contacted me by email at the end of November. We really didn’t have very much information about the event. Alleke knew she was going to meet Xavi, but other than that, it was mostly a surprise for us too! The people at TV3 were great, though. I was very impressed by them.

tB: In TV we saw that Alleke was shy. Was she nervous? What was her reaction when you first told her that she’d get to meet Xavi?

K: It was Alleke’s decision to meet Xavi. I didn’t want to make her do it, so I asked if she wanted to go to Barcelona to meet Xavi, and she grinned and started dancing around the room (which would soon become known in our house as the “Xavi dance.”) She did seem nervous to me when she met Xavi, but mostly I think she was tired. We had spend the whole day traveling and anticipating the event, and even when we were sitting there in the TV studio waiting to meet Xavi, I could tell how tired she was getting by being so excited for so long. As soon as we stepped off stage after meeting Xavi, Alleke told me she was tired and wanted to go to bed. I would have loved to have stayed at the studio to talk to Xavi after the awards ceremony, but first of all, I’m a parent, and my kids come first. We took the kids back to the hotel and put them to bed.

tB: How was Xavi when he met you? Had he seen the video before this Catalonian Sports Awards Ceremony?

K: The people at TV3 told me that meeting Alleke was a surprise. During the show the host asked Xavi if he knew he was going to meet Alleke, and he said it was a complete surprise. I do wonder if he saw the video before he met her, or if it was the first time.

And now it’s time for exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of Alleke meeting Xavi.



I’m sure you all want to know what Xavi wrote on her jersey, don’t you? “Alleke, muchos besos con carino” which means “Alleke, many kisses with love”.



We want to thank Kelly and his wife April for making this interview possible and taking the time to answer our questions. Kelly writes a blog about being a parent and the everyday life of his family. Raising kids is a rather big challenge nowadays, especially in a big city like Madrid. They’re also living in a country in which they aren’t native. You can join in their adventures in Spain at spaindad.com.