John Stones may have come under an intense amount of pressure during his £50 million move from Everton to Manchester City, last summer, but the former Toffees centre half enjoyed perhaps his finest night in a City shirt, last night, scoring twice during a 4-0 away Champions League victory over Feyenoord.
And the England international almost broke one of the iconic Xavi's records in the process.
Stones has always been known to prefer to a more continental approach to his game, opting to pass the ball out of defence rather than mindlessly hoofing it down field at every given opportunity.
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It was this style of play that saw the former Everton international come close to besting Xavi's passing record in the Champions League at De Kuip in Rotterdam, on Wednesday night.
No, your eyes aren't dreaming, John Stones almost broke Xavi's Champions League passing record. Xavi's. Perhaps the greatest midfielder to ever grace the competition.
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In total, Stones completed 131 out of 134 attempted passes against the Dutch champions, a 98% completion rate, whereas Xavi once completed all 96 of the passes he attempted during a quarter-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain in 2013.
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Stones' performances have seemed to improve pretty remarkably this season after a tremendously difficult first season in East Manchester. It would appear that Pep Guardiola's influence is finally beginning to rub off on the 23-year-old.
(H/T 101 Great Goals)
Topics: Xavi, Manchester City, Football, Champions League, John Stones
