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| Midfielder, Spain |
Iniesta doesn't have the flash of Neymar or the directness of Messi, and he's not a metronome like his Barcelona midfield compadre Xavi. The thing about Iniesta is you simply can't take the ball from him. It's detrimental to your health to try as symptoms include loss of energy, increased blood pressure and strained muscles from overreaching. Defenders can't seem to help themselves though; they flock to Iniesta in droves.
This is when Iniesta hurts you. If two or three defenders converge on the same player, they vacate valuable defensive real estate; if those defenders don't then win the ball or at least bottle the player up, the defense becomes horribly vulnerable. When Iniesta wriggles himself free of these defenders, the damage is done. This isn't necessarily because it immediately produces a goal. Much more often, Iniesta will produce an incisive pass into the space vacated by the extra defenders, and suddenly his teammates can attack in numbers. This is what Andres Iniesta does. He is a gravitational pull that destroys defensive shape.
How does Iniesta do this? He is compact (5'7'', 143 lbs.), shifty, has impeccable touch and most importantly, he plays fast. I'm not using fast in the sense that he runs like a sprinter or jolts this way and that. It's his mind that moves rapidly. No matter how quickly you close him down, Iniesta's reaction is a split-second faster. Watching Iniesta play, it's as though he has eyes in the back of his head, but it's really a combination of spatial awareness, quick reflexes, dribbling ability and composure. Ladies and gentlemen, El Ilusionista!
It must also be said that Iniesta can score goals, and he has a knack for scoring big ones. Who can forget his famous stoppage-time winner against Chelsea that took Barcelona to the 2009 Champions League Final? That would normally be the biggest goal a player scores in their lifetime. That is unless you score the goal that wins your country their first-ever World Cup.
After winning the 2010 World Cup, Iniesta and Spain went on to win the 2012 UEFA European Championship becoming the first side ever to win two continental titles (2008, 2012) sandwiched around a World Cup title (2010). Spain has undoubtedly reigned as the world's best team since 2008, but their window is closing. The core of those championship teams - Iniesta, Xavi, Carles Puyol, David Villa, Sergio Ramos - is aging, and Brazil will be their last merry-go-round together. At 30 years of age, Iniesta is still in his prime, and he will once again be at the heart of how Spain performs. Can Iniesta lead Spain to become the first back-to-back World Cup winner since the Pele-led Brazil sides of 1958 and 1962?
This article is part of the Players to Know series.