Zidane would not be top-3 player today

Not saying that Zidane > Messi or Messi > Zidane or anything, but Zidane performed great on both the club and international level.

Joke of a thread

How many teams were build around iniesta? None.. and how many were have build around Zidane?Many.. it tells the level difference between them.
A prime zidane is a rich mans iniesta,heck a 35 year old was on par..

Iniesta was always a very talented pale faced footballer who was developing each season, being patient and took his chance beautifully when asked to fill the void left by Deco.

Xavi was doing his thing quietly for a while. He just had other players who took the spot light ahead of him and I think Pep gave him more responsibility but I'm not sure really. Oh how Louis Van Gaal must be laughing at those who doubted him...

They were definitely not "no one" when Pep took over.

The Ini - Zidane comparison I always believe is an unfair comparison to make on Ini as he isn't the same type of player Zidane was. Xavi, however, can look at Zidane's legacy with his head held high. Xavi doesn't have the great man's physical presence (Zidane had some size on him) but his ball control, vision and just general midfield organisation is just as good as the great man was in his remarkable prime.

Don't mind they played vastly different positions, their job is relatively the same: play making. Xavi does it in a deeper role while Zidane, although he used to drop deep to organise the play, did most of his damage in the final third.

Two legendary players in all honesty. Oh and to answer your question, Zidane has done relatively the same footballing accomplishments as Xavi with the exception of the treble.

Doc wrote:The Ini - Zidane comparison I always believe is an unfair comparison to make on Ini as he isn't the same type of player Zidane was. Xavi, however, can look at Zidane's legacy with his head held high. Xavi doesn't have the great man's physical presence (Zidane had some size on him) but his ball control, vision and just general midfield organisation is just as good as the great man was in his remarkable prime.

Don't mind they played vastly different positions, their job is relatively the same: play making. Xavi does it in a deeper role while Zidane, although he used to drop deep to organise the play, did most of his damage in the final third.

Two legendary players in all honesty. Oh and to answer your question, Zidane has done relatively the same footballing accomplishments as Xavi with the exception of the treble.

Respect man.
Nice to hear a Madrid fan praising Xavi and not bring out the usual 'Its the system' argument.

The xcx wrote:Who were Xavi or Iniesta before Pep came? noone, its teh system that makes them good.

You are right.
When Iniesta toys with the Madrid defense and makes Coentrao look like a fool its the system doing his work.
Or when Xavi controls the ball with a sublime backheel before setting up Messi in the CWC final again its the system working and not his insane technique.

Also it’s amazing how every football great that hasn’t played for Barca was never helped by its team’s system.
How useless their coaches must be, while for Barca Pep makes it all work smoothly.

Oh no, wait, I forgot… Pep is the overrated clueless guy who wins titles because he has Xavi in his Machine

It usually goes hand in hand, system and players. They are instances, however, where the players are the system regardless of what coach is in charge. In Barcelona's case, they got the perfect storm going on down there. The system they currently have suit their very talented group perfectly. The players make the system and the system makes the players.

The fans and the occasional crazy president/director/whatever I usually have nothing good to say about but this version of Barcelona deserves all my praise really.

This whole system arguement is ridiculous. What era do you think we are in, the 1970s?

The whole point of great players is that they flourish under certain parameters set by the managers tactical system. People here make it out as if Zidane took on teams by himslef when in fact that is BS. At juventus he was the creator and had 3 holding MF behind him. AT Real MAdrid his genius required Makelele there to balance him. Xavi has always been the same player, but Pep has done what any manager is supposed to do, find a sytem that allows your players to flourish withing the system.

Would ROnaldo have succeeded at United had ROoney and Tevez not done all the work for him?

As far as I'm concerned, Xavi is very much on Zidanes level.

The " Juventus 2003 > this Barca team " comment made me laugh so hard.

How can a team that hasn't won anything in Europe be better than this Barcelona team ?

That Juventus guy talks crap and he can't back it up, this Barca team has won 13 trophies in less than 4 years and they are still doing well, what has Juve's 2003 team did to be better than this Barca ?

It is like me saying Tottenham's current team is better than RM's 98-02 team .