Senhor Perfect said:
@Crayo
I disagree completely. Look at what Zidane did in 98 and 06, you can honestly say Iniesta (who I love BTW) could carry those teams to the WC finals like Zidane did? I know part of it is your national pride being born is Spain, I get it cause I feel the same way about CR7. There's nothing wrong with you thinking Iniesta is on the same level, there's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise. Bringing in CR7 and Messi to Maradona is irrelevant to the subject, the debate is Zidane/Iniesta, not old players vs current players. Iniesta does control games, yes, but he doesn't have the complete skill set Zidane had, or the size to do it with. Zidane is the most complete player I've ever seen, period. He could literally do it all, at the highest level. That's my piece, Iniesta already is a legend in my book, but I don't see anything he can do to elevate himself into Zidane territory in my eyes.
Firstly, this has nothing to do with my national pride. I regard England as my "home" nation so any questions about being bias is insane. Iniesta pretty much carried Spain in the latest Euro's. For those who watched every Spanish match, you know he was MOTM in every and was the star of the show. He just had a lot of other good players around him so it isn't seen as "carrying" a game.
Iniesta has carried Barcelona many times when Messi wasn't playing. Zidane also had a good team around him in both those finals you mention, but more importantly didn't have any serious international opponents (discounting Brazil) at the time. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but do you even watch la Liga Senhor? Do you even watch Iniesta's games? And I don't mean once in a while so you can cast a judgement, I mean do you watch more or less each and every single game Iniesta is in? If you do not, then your opinion of him as a player -- and a comparison to one of the greatest who you clearly watched -- can not be as accurate as it can possibly be.
Please tell me what Iniesta lacks in his skill set that Zidane had? Please do not mention size because it is irrelevant. Iniesta being small now is an advantage, like Zidane being bigger was an advantage in his time. Football has evolved. The invincible Arsenal team were a team of big players who were technically gifted, and they dominated English football. Now football is dominated by smaller players with a lower sense of gravity, who are quick on the ball and more agile. Bigger players are struggling in terms of being on the same level technically as the smaller ones. You have a few specials like Ronaldo who can counter that argument, but the vast majority are smaller players. So size is meaningless in this debate, and so is the "perfect athlete" argument as Ronaldo is a far superior athlete to Messi, but isn't the best in the world...
For the record: The leading Spanish analyst (in terms of valuable opinion anyway) agrees with my Iniesta argument. I know that has no relevance here really, but I just want people to know this isn't me spitting out random crap; it's something that is being argued on the biggest stage.
Also, lastly, Zidane said himself Iniesta is as good as him.
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