This has some merit only in the sense that Xavi was more of a center-midfield machine of passes, rather than a no10 last third playmaker, who was waiting for service higher up to reel in the last pass. He was much much more involved in midfield than any no10-type. And this is why Messi makes a mediocre Xavi.
Ozil had more decisive passes than both Xavi and Iniesta at Madrid in the same timeframe I think. Not because he was better in the last third. But because Xavi and Iniesta had more important roles, that went way past Ozil's capabilities on the field. They made sure Barca pretty much dominated every team they ever played against, domestically or in Europe. Almost all of the teams that beat us back then didn't even attempt to win the midfield against Xavi and Iniesta. They just assumed from the start they were gonna have to defend deep to stand a chance.
The "problem" of Xavi, in particular, was that he had probably the most intelligent and relentless movement out of any midfielders. He was impossible to mark out, and even dangerous to do so because he'd move so much, you were never able to stand between him and the passer. Because by the time you think you had him blocked, he'd already pop more to the left or to the right of the marker to receive the ball. 99.9% of the other top midfielders don't have this commitment to moving. They try to evade marking once, twice, but if they can't do it they give up and leave their teammates to receive the ball. You can take them out of the game for prolonged periods of time. Not Xavi.
So, in other words, those passes were only obvious for him, because he did the pre-pass work to perfection. And this stems not from having great stamina to put in 11-12km in the big games, but also from having the biggest football brain out there to always know where to place himself to complete a pass the way he wanted it.
