Six Barcelona players are on the FTBL World Top 23: Xavi, Leo Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, and goalkeeper Victor Valdes. But Barcelona’s 2:2 draw at Valencia resulted not just in 2 lost points, but also in lost rating points for these leaders.

Xavi (pictured right) incurred the biggest loss: 16.91 points. He will have a perfect opportunity Tuesday to improve on that last game; the plank to beat will be 5.37 points. He currently has 165.32 points over all and still tops the rating of Spanish midfielders.

The only Barcelona leader to have boosted his rating in the game against Sevilla is Argentina star Lionel Messi (pictured left); He scored a goal, moving up 10 places in the rating. Messi will need to earn as much as he did (37.05 rating points) in the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich if he wants to continue his rise. Messi scored a double in that game, which the Catalans won 4:0.

Messi and Xavi are currently at the top of the ranking of midfielders in La Liga: Messi is first and Xavi second. But the picture could change radically after the Champions League semi-final, with Xavi having a good chance of overtaking Messi.