The Xavi Hernandez managerial era at Barcelona has so far gotten off to quite a promising start. For a Barcelona team that at one point in the season was projected to both cap off the campaign trophyless and finish outside the top-four of the La Liga standings, Xavi instilled new hope into the Catalan side within mere months.

Dani Alves has been a regular for Barca as of late, and overall, he is much pleased to see the Spanish manager place a high emphasis on simply outworking opponents while on the pitch, which he touched on to the Spanish-based outlet Sport.

“Xavi's secret is hard work,” Alves said. “We have to fight, to do what we have always done. The only thing that has changed is that he is now a coach. His point of view is the same as when he was playing. We are working very hard. It's the first time since I've been at Barca that I've worked like this.”

Xavi has not even completed his first managerial season with Barcelona, and he has already garnered comparisons to Manchester City manager and former Barca boss Pep Guardiola. From similarities in their tactical approaches to also their stern focus on off-ball movement in the final third, such comparisons between the two do have some merit.

Alves also featured under Guardiola at Barca, and while there are striking similarities with the two managers, he has taken notice of one notable difference between them.

“With no one else have we worked like this on a physical level,” Alves said. “It's also important to bear in mind that football has changed. Guardiola had a lot of good players and we didn't have to run up and down the field. We recovered a lot of balls in the opponent's half.

“Now we do have to run from time to time and, for that, we need to be in good physical shape. Now the work we used to do is not enough.”

Barca under Guardiola was one of the more efficient pressing teams of the past two decades. With Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andres Iniesta patrolling the midfield, the Catalan side would often win back possession with relative ease. But as Alves touched on, Barca, now under Xavi, has placed a high importance on being in keen physical shape in order to be able to continually press and be relentless over the course of fixtures.

In the big picture, Alves believes Barca has struck gold with the next Guardiola.

“I said ten years ago that Xavi would be Barca's Guardiola 3.0,” Alves said. “Because of the way he understands the game, because of the way he adapts his football to the current needs and because he knows the house. He knows what is needed here. It is always necessary to find good executors to put the style into practice. That is the great secret of good coaches.”

As of late, Barca has continued to string together convincing results in all competitions, which has helped to lift the mood of a club that was in dire need of changes during the first half of the season.

A pair of key fixtures now await Barcelona, as they will face Levante in La Liga play and also Eintracht Frankfurt in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League quarterfinal tie.