It's astonishing how many people are living in the past with regard to captains, harking back to the days of Bryan Robson, John Terry and the like.
It hasn't been like that for years now, the captain is in many ways a symbolic role, with the focus much more off the field and the respect they have of their team-mates and how they liaise with the manager and even the chairman.
I've lost count of the number of times I've cited an interview with Xavi ten or more years ago, where he explained that the traditional captain's role on the pitch was very much a movable feast, anyone who felt the spirit move them could assume the role, one person might be more vocal with attackers, another with defenders, one earlier in the game, one later, but it would almost always move through the team depending on the moment.
So he might wear the armband but there were times where he was focusing more on his own game, maybe after making a mistake, and Pujol or Piqué would take up the mantle.
And so on and so on. He was adamant that the armband didn't make the slightest difference.