Xavi and Ronald Koeman: what are the similarities between the two managers?

Ronald Koeman's reign ended days ago but Barcelona are only now close to appointing a permanent manager after Qatar club Al Sadd agreed a few hours ago to release former Barcelona captain Xavi Hernandez and allow him take over at Barcelona.

Xavi and Ronald Koeman share a few similarities, one obvious one was playing for Barcelona and winning many titles at the club and once Xavi takes over he joins an elite list of former players to both play and manage the club, a list which includes Johan Cruyff, Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique amongst others.

The amazing fact about the two is that they both paid their own release clauses at their former jobs to accept the Barcelona job, a gesture to help the club lighten their financial woes. Koeman paid off his release clause to the Dutch national team, about £3m while it is being reported that Xavi will pay his €5m release clause to Al Sadd.

Both players won the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona and have Champions League winning goals, and for their national teams, they both won the European championships, hopefully their times as Barcelona manager won't be the same.