Iniesta is massively overrated whether you like it or not

Don't get me wrong he's an elite complementary player BUT if you think he's on Messi's or even Ronaldo's level you're clinically insane. I Think we all witnessed just how impactful Messi's sheer presence on the pitch is, comes on PSG who were composed and comfortable up until Pedro's goal were all over the place.

I mean you even got a poster on here who seriously believes he's better Zidane & Xavi EVER were. I'm sure you guys probably already know who I'm talking about.

Iniesta is closer to Hazard, Ozil & Gotze than he is to Messi and Ronaldo. Deal with it.

riiight....

Don't understand how you can say that after this game, when I thought that he was the best player on the pitch, and after this season.

He's a central midfielder. Why compare him to wingers, strikers and CAMs?

harhar11 wrote:riiight....

Don't understand how you can say that after this game, when I thought that he was the best player on the pitch, and after this season.

In what world was Iniesta the best player on the pitch tonight?

Must have been watching the wrong game because Ibra, Lucas, Pastore, Verratti all put in WC performances tonight.

Classic case of overrating this lad. Makes one decent move and everyone suddenly revises history.

futbol wrote:He's a central midfielder. Why compare him to wingers, strikers and CAMs?

Because there's this common misconception of him being on their level on this site. When in reality he's a couple of tiers below them.

Besides I pointed out the Zidane comparisons.

I kinda have to agree with the Gil here.

I don't really know of anyone (I'm sure there are a couple crazies out there) who think Iniesta is better or on Par with Messi or Ronaldo.

Messi and Ronaldo are once in a generation players.

As far as Zidane goes, he has gotten this mythical aura on this board of being in the same class as a Messi or Ronaldo which he is just not. There were plenty of CL games where he went missing but it's just easier to remember the highlights you see and not the low lights when he is no longer playing.

I mean for Juventus and Madrid the highest amount of goals he ever had in a CL was 3.

He did score some incredibly important goals and also got red carded in a World cup Final but so has Iniesta and right now Zidane is the better player but if Iniesta gets another CL or 2 and maybe another International trophy then It's hard to say that anymore.

If you're going to have the argument you need to frame it correctly. How many Balon D'or's does Zidane win playing in an era with Messi and Ronaldo?

I know it's the cool thing to say these days that the international game is down and Spain has taken advantage. I don't believe that and Spain has set some records that may never be broken including consecutive games won and 3 straight international trophies, and Iniesta is one of if not the best player on the team with Xavi.

We all know what Barca has done and it has been head and shoulders above anything Zidane accomplished with any team he was on in his club career.

So to just throw out there that Zidane is better then Iniesta maybe he is but I would argue at the end of Iniesta's career he will have accomplished much more from a team perspective. HE doesn't need Messi to win, he has proved that with Spain.

I have been hating on Iniesta for 3 years now, and I ain't stopping. He's good, but he's living off Messi and the Barca chemistry more than people like to admit.

Gil wrote:

futbol wrote:He's a central midfielder. Why compare him to wingers, strikers and CAMs?

Because there's this common misconception of him being on their level on this site. When in reality he's a couple of tiers below them.

Besides I pointed out the Zidane comparisons.

Iniesta is closer to some of the best central midfielders of all time (Xavi, Zidane etc.) than Ronaldo is to Messi, Maradona, Pelé etc. I don't get this thread. He didn't have an iconic performance today but still played fine. A 7 out of 10 performance. Zidane joined a CL winning Juventus side and got humiliated 1-3 by Dortmund in the final the very next season, failed to make an impact against Real Madrid the season after, lost to Manchester United in his third year etc. Do you think Zidane was giving 10 out of 10 performances and winning games on his own week in week out or what?

Gil wrote:

harhar11 wrote:riiight....

Don't understand how you can say that after this game, when I thought that he was the best player on the pitch, and after this season.

In what world was Iniesta the best player on the pitch tonight?

Must have been watching the wrong game because Ibra, Lucas, Pastore, Verratti all put in WC performances tonight.

Classic case of overrating this lad. Makes one decent move and everyone suddenly revises history.

One decent move? Dude, the PSG players couldn't get the ball of him! and he was close to scoring a goal just before Barça's equilizer. He was the only Barça player that played great today.

And apparently, UEFA chose Iniesta as the man of the match. But, obviously, they only chose him as the MOTM because of 1 "decent" turn, right?

He's good, but to be one of the best you must be productive IMO like Messi and Ronaldo are. He's in Ribery/Ozil class, but no way on Messi/Ronaldo level.

futbol wrote:

Gil wrote:

futbol wrote:He's a central midfielder. Why compare him to wingers, strikers and CAMs?

Because there's this common misconception of him being on their level on this site. When in reality he's a couple of tiers below them.

Besides I pointed out the Zidane comparisons.

Iniesta is closer to some of the best central midfielders of all time (Xavi, Zidane etc.) than Ronaldo is to Messi, Maradona, Pelé etc. I don't get this thread. He didn't have an iconic performance today but still played fine. A 7 out of 10 performance. Zidane joined a CL winning Juventus side and got humiliated 1-3 by Dortmund in the final the very next season, failed to make an impact against Real Madrid the season after, lost to Manchester United in his third year etc. Do you think Zidane was giving 10 out of 10 performances and winning games on his own week in week out or what?

was does it takes for cr to be considered among the greats? score a hattrick every game for the rest of his career? he is doing amazing things consistently for a while now, the only one better is messi and not by some huge gap anymore either

harhar11 wrote:

Gil wrote:

harhar11 wrote:riiight....

Don't understand how you can say that after this game, when I thought that he was the best player on the pitch, and after this season.

In what world was Iniesta the best player on the pitch tonight?

Must have been watching the wrong game because Ibra, Lucas, Pastore, Verratti all put in WC performances tonight.

Classic case of overrating this lad. Makes one decent move and everyone suddenly revises history.

One decent move? Dude, the PSG players couldn't get the ball of him! and he was close to scoring a goal just before Barça's equilizer. He was the only Barça player that played great today.

And apparently, UEFA chose Iniesta as the man of the match. But, obviously, they only chose him as the MOTM because of 1 "decent" turn, right?

Verratti was by far the best player on the pitch.

The general feeling around the world is that Cristiano and Messi are the to best, hardly anyone puts Iniesta on their level.

That alone means this entire thread is typical Gil, no sense behind it what so ever and full of stupidity. Only thing missing is a little premfacery, but I guess he made up for it by uttering the name of Hazard in the same breath as Iniesta.

I mean Hazard ffs lol

I will tell you this, I prefer Iniesta to Cristiano and even if I wouldnt, I sure as hell think he is closer to Cristiano than Cristiano is to Messi.

Also, on the way to comparisons so rightback >>>>

likeastar wrote:He's good, but to be one of the best you must be productive IMO like Messi and Ronaldo are. He's in Ribery/Ozil class, but no way on Messi/Ronaldo level.

Ridiculous post. Zidane's highest assist tally in a season was something like 11.

And by the way. There is no "Messi-Ronaldo level". Messi is clearly a couple of levels above Ronaldo.

likeastar wrote:He's good, but to be one of the best you must be productive IMO like Messi and Ronaldo are. He's in Ribery/Ozil class, but no way on Messi/Ronaldo level.

Ozil is not in Ribéry's class ...... yet

Messi and ronaldo

Iniesta , RVP , ....

The fact that I rate iniesta as good as ronaldo says enough (and you guys already know how much I like ronaldo)

First of all, how do you expect iniesta to score like messi does gil? Messi is a CF.. iniesta is a CM..
Iniesta's dribbling is out of this world.. his close control is second only to messi
His eye for a pass and clutch moments in big games says more then enough
Why am I even arguing this lol

And I agree with futbol. Goals+assists aren't good ways to judge players like iniesta. not at all.

Typical EPL fan thinking so simplistically..

futbol wrote:

likeastar wrote:He's good, but to be one of the best you must be productive IMO like Messi and Ronaldo are. He's in Ribery/Ozil class, but no way on Messi/Ronaldo level.

Ridiculous post. Zidane's highest assist tally in a season was something like 11.

And by the way. There is no "Messi-Ronaldo level". Messi is clearly a couple of levels above Ronaldo.

Let's not turn it in a Messi vs Cr7 thread please

I'm sorry to say so but Zidane's aura make him '' greater than Iniesta '' . The 2 goals he scored in 98 made him well know every where. I'm pretty sure has Eric cantona scored goals in so important moments he would have been much more popular. Zidane is a fantastic player but the timing of his best games is almost perfect . Iniesta goal against chelsea in 2009 is as much as important than the one scored by Zidane agains Leverkusen but .

As who is the better player , it's pretty hard to tell but i'd say zidane edge it... aka iniesta is in zidane's class

Giggity5313 wrote:The fact that I rate iniesta as good as ronaldo says enough (and you guys already know how much I like ronaldo)

First of all, how do you expect iniesta to score like messi does gil? Messi is a CF.. iniesta is a CM..
Iniesta's dribbling is out of this world.. his close control is second only to messi
His eye for a pass and clutch moments in big games says more then enough
Why am I even arguing this lol

And I agree with futbol. Goals+assists aren't good ways to judge players like iniesta. not at all.

Typical EPL fan thinking so simplistically..

Well said , player like Lampard ( no direspect ) look like genius besides Iniesta but no one is going to argue that's not the case.
Zlatan even has more assist than iniesta in CL this season ... barely means something

Let's not underrate zidane now

There's a point when you compare him to pele and messi and cryuff.. thats when you stop

But the underrating is ridiculous

Anyone who has watched him play will know how good he is. Iniesta on roids basically

Giggity5313 wrote:The fact that I rate iniesta as good as ronaldo says enough (and you guys already know how much I like ronaldo)

First of all, how do you expect iniesta to score like messi does gil? Messi is a CF.. iniesta is a CM..
Iniesta's dribbling is out of this world.. his close control is second only to messi
His eye for a pass and clutch moments in big games says more then enough
Why am I even arguing this lol

And I agree with futbol. Goals+assists aren't good ways to judge players like iniesta. not at all.

Typical EPL fan thinking so simplistically..

It's like people don't watch football anymore. They go to whoscored.com, check famous players' assist and goal numbers and according to that make up some shitty opinions on online forums.

Dnmac4 wrote:I don't really know of anyone (I'm sure there are a couple crazies out there) who think Iniesta is better or on Par with Messi or Ronaldo.

Messi and Ronaldo are once in a generation players.

As far as Zidane goes, he has gotten this mythical aura on this board of being in the same class as a Messi or Ronaldo which he is just not. There were plenty of CL games where he went missing but it's just easier to remember the highlights you see and not the low lights when he is no longer playing.

I mean for Juventus and Madrid the highest amount of goals he ever had in a CL was 3.

He did score some incredibly important goals and also got red carded in a World cup Final but so has Iniesta and right now Zidane is the better player but if Iniesta gets another CL or 2 and maybe another International trophy then It's hard to say that anymore.

If you're going to have the argument you need to frame it correctly. How many Balon D'or's does Zidane win playing in an era with Messi and Ronaldo?

I know it's the cool thing to say these days that the international game is down and Spain has taken advantage. I don't believe that and Spain has set some records that may never be broken including consecutive games won and 3 straight international trophies, and Iniesta is one of if not the best player on the team with Xavi.

We all know what Barca has done and it has been head and shoulders above anything Zidane accomplished with any team he was on in his club career.

So to just throw out there that Zidane is better then Iniesta maybe he is but I would argue at the end of Iniesta's career he will have accomplished much more from a team perspective. HE doesn't need Messi to win, he has proved that with Spain.

This is a very good post. I agree with most of it. I have said it before for me Iniesta is a level behind Zidane, but Iniesta still has plenty of time to make up for it. When he retires, he will be up there with Zidane.

Also, Iniesta is a world class player, but I dont rate him to be closer to Ronaldo or Messi both of whom I think are a different level. I also dont think Iniesta is closer to Ronaldo, than Ronaldo is to Messi. Iniesta is not close to Ronaldo in terms of what Ronaldo brings to Real, compared to what Iniesta bring to Barca. Now, Iniesta does have a disadvantage that he has to share the stage with Messi, but he still has potential to be better.

I look at it this way (now this is all what-ifs and just my opinion) but Barca without Iniesta (in my opinion) would still win most of their games. Barca without Messi would struggle to win lot of their games, and same with Ronaldo. Now Iniesta has a completely different role, but I value productivity and efficiency rather than the aesthetics of football.

Lastly, I definitely think Iniesta is better than Ozil/Ribery (who I also consider world class).

Iniesta overrated?
Please.