Zidane was pretty class throughout most of his career.

I think there is no doubting Iniesta is a special thing, like Zidane. He's in a special team, and is an integral part in the best Spain team ever (probably...?) as well as the best Barcelona team ever (probably...).

I think if he continues this trend for a couple of years then he will for sure be on Zidanes level. If he's not there already.

diptiman wrote:i think with all due respect some of madrid hate is blinding u in ur judgement of zidane..

Zidane is one of my favorite player to watch. I actually prefer to watch him over 'dinho. So I have nothing against Zidane. I just feel that because he was so elegant some of the fans overrate him.

I feel like his performance was mixed though, he was garbage in the first half, then definetly turned up the heat in the 2nd

Iniesta was stuck out in wings in the first half. So he was kind of isolated to stamp his influence. When he started coming inside in the second half, he started to play really well.

As for Zidane and Iniesta, i think Iniesta is technically better than Zidane. Great ball control and acceleration that even Zidane did not have. But Zidane is an overall better player because of his size and shooting ability. Plus Zidane stood out more because the team was always built around him.

People saying Iniesta plays with Xavi, just remember that Zidane had the likes of Makelele, Viera, Ribery etc around him. He was surrounded by class players who connected with him very well. Not taking anything away from him though. And yes, Zidane is a level below Cryuff and the other EPICGOATS...

Iniesta is ridiculously under-rated among Barca fans here.

I have zero doubt that Barca would have had 3 CLs in a row and beaten Mou's Inter had Iniesta been fit for those games.

Barca just lack an offensive edge without him. He is such a joy to watch in tight spaces....I have a man crush on this guy...will probably let him do naughty things to my wife

kiranr wrote:
Iniesta was stuck out in wings in the first half. So he was kind of isolated to stamp his influence. When he started coming inside in the second half, he started to play really well.

As for Zidane and Iniesta, i think Iniesta is technically better than Zidane. Great ball control and acceleration that even Zidane did not have. But Zidane is an overall better player because of his size and shooting ability. Plus Zidane stood out more because the team was always built around him.

People saying Iniesta plays with Xavi, just remember that Zidane had the likes of Makelele, Viera, Ribery etc around him. He was surrounded by class players who connected with him very well. Not taking anything away from him though. And yes, Zidane is a level below Cryuff and the other EPICGOATS...

Zidane imo still had a better touch and overall ball control. dribbling is debatable though

Sepi wrote:Iniesta is ridiculously under-rated among Barca fans here.

I have zero doubt that Barca would have had 3 CLs in a row and beaten Mou's Inter had Iniesta been fit for those games.

Barca just lack an offensive edge without him. He is such a joy to watch in tight spaces....I have a man crush on this guy...will probably let him do naughty things to my wife

I totally agree with you sir

Giggity5313 wrote:

kiranr wrote:
Iniesta was stuck out in wings in the first half. So he was kind of isolated to stamp his influence. When he started coming inside in the second half, he started to play really well.

As for Zidane and Iniesta, i think Iniesta is technically better than Zidane. Great ball control and acceleration that even Zidane did not have. But Zidane is an overall better player because of his size and shooting ability. Plus Zidane stood out more because the team was always built around him.

People saying Iniesta plays with Xavi, just remember that Zidane had the likes of Makelele, Viera, Ribery etc around him. He was surrounded by class players who connected with him very well. Not taking anything away from him though. And yes, Zidane is a level below Cryuff and the other EPICGOATS...

Zidane imo still had a better touch and overall ball control. dribbling is debatable though

We can agree to disagree there Giggity. Actually, it is so close between them, i can understand why you are going Zidane's way!

Sepi wrote:

Sepi wrote:Iniesta is ridiculously under-rated among Barca fans here.

I have zero doubt that Barca would have had 3 CLs in a row and beaten Mou's Inter had Iniesta been fit for those games.

Barca just lack an offensive edge without him. He is such a joy to watch in tight spaces....I have a man crush on this guy...will probably let him do naughty things to my wife

I totally agree with you sir

\Don't know if he's underrated by us... I rate him damn highly. I think he's as good as Zidane and possibly better, but I'm ridiculously biased so I don't really feel worthy of making such a judgement.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I thought Iniesta was great... after the game was already won. Before he failed to impress me.

Same here.he was great after the game was already won at 3-1.
When the game was on the line and we were struggling Messi showed the way.
Messi by far was the MOM.
That doesnt mean Iniesta isnt a big game player.
He is the ultimate big game player.

Messi MOM? Carles Puyol says hi... I don't think anyone was outstanding, but I thought our defence was brilliant. Alves, Busi, Pique, Abidal and Puyol.

Why do you have to compare? First touch, dribbling and ball contorl easily go to Iniesta, and yes I saw most of if not all of Zidane's career at Juventus. Iniesta hardly loses the ball. That's just the way he is trained. I'm not dealing with talent here, I'm dealing with actulity. Iniesta keeps the ball far better than Zidane ever did. The big difference for me is that Zidane was a leader. Zidane is better at shooting, more two footed and better aerially. but what does that mean? Zidane was an attacking mf so those things were more useful to him, iniesta plays centrally so the things he is btter at are more useful to him. They are different players and have different roles. Now who is better at what they do? That should be the question here.

matpol wrote:Iniesta is IMO the best big game player in the world. He is so underrated, even by Barca fans (I'm speaking to you alexjanosik). What a game by Don Andres. El Illusionista

You know what matpol. I used to react the same as you but after interacting with alex more closely I realized that he does not underrate Iniesta but instead rates him so high that he always has super human expectations of him which would be difficult for any player barring a very select few to meet.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I thought Iniesta was great... after the game was already won. Before he failed to impress me.

That's fair alfred. In the first half Iniesta was non-existent to the point that I was wondering what the hell is he doing. The goals happened due to Messi's and Alexis's brilliance, Xavi's intelligence and their poor defending with a little bit of luck and finally D.Alves's quality with Fabregas' precision. Iniesta didn't have a part to play in any of the goals as such. However he was one of the reasons why Madrid were so completely outplayed and chanceless in most of the second half. Two moments stand out in my memory. One is when he wins the ball off Coentrao in such an unbelievable way that Coentrao's reaction is to throw his hands up in the air wondering how did he manage to lose the ball. The second is when Madrid were seemingly comfortable in possession in their own half and a sudden adventurous challenge by Iniesta created an opening when none had existed.

Sepi wrote:Iniesta is ridiculously under-rated among Barca fans here.

I have zero doubt that Barca would have had 3 CLs in a row and beaten Mou's Inter had Iniesta been fit for those games.

Barca just lack an offensive edge without him. He is such a joy to watch in tight spaces....

It's so wonderful of you to say that. To hear something like this from a fan of some other club has made my day. Thank you very much.

BarcaKizz wrote:Messi MOM? Carles Puyol says hi...

I agree kizz, Puyol was the man of the match. I will be honest and say that I thought we would not get to see any more legendary performances from him given his age and injury problems but I was wrong.

Iniesta

Iniesta :dance:

vs Coentrao??
http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/andres-iniesta-magic-v-real-madrid/



Vs Khedira

Not going to comment Iniest vs Zidane as i might be biased. But, we might want to keep in mind that Zidane was more of a attacking mf whereas Iniesta is more central mf. That makes the comparison a bit tougher.

As for those who say Iniesta did not play shit in first classico half - i was not able to get a steady stream for the first half of the game (probably missed around 15-20 min), but I got impression that he was being played as winger. When he was (probably instructed by Pep) to play in center, then he showed who he really is.

To me, Iniesta is the ULTIMATE BIG GAME PLAYER!

I don't know if this has been shown before (I think maybe Free might have, or Alex, or Kizz...but I'm not sure).

Great video of Iniesta when he was younger. He has progressed so much, but back then he still dribble the same way and all. Just a nice video to watch. Also, Messi pass in that video scarily reminds me of the 2nd pass in 5-0 lol

CBarca wrote:

I don't know if this has been shown before (I think maybe Free might have, or Alex, or Kizz...but I'm not sure).

Great video of Iniesta when he was younger. He has progressed so much, but back then he still dribble the same way and all. Just a nice video to watch. Also, Messi pass in that video scarily reminds me of the 2nd pass in 5-0 lol

Iniesta was always a prodigy. He was incredible even when he was younger, which is why I scratch my heads when people say that Özil is better than when Iniesta was at his age.

The touch he does at 2:00... wow

Iniesta>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Zidane

Deal with it

When Iniesta headbuts Pepe you can come back to this thread

He’s better than Oezil. That’s all I care about

Andres Iniesta what a performance !

Off topic but I think that everyone knows that Iniesta has said that his favorite team as a kid was real madrid but I don't know if they know that Zidane's favorite team was juventus AND barca..

Zidane confess to have been a barcelona fan as a kid

the video and article is on spanish though..