Iniesta Vs Zidane

[Uffa]

I always find it hard to answer these kinds of questions when you have to choose between two top players.
If you had to organize a 1v1 at the top of their careers, Zidane would probably score more goals and have a more refined touch of the ball; possibly also make more unexpected moves. But imo it's a bit pointless to consider players as if it were an individual sport instead of a team one.
Zidane was a great individual player, he could be the spark in a team lacking inventive.
Iniesta was the perfect unit in a neural network.
Would Zidane adapt as well to such a defined system? It didn't work as well as expected for Ibrahimovic, who is a top individual player as well.
What I'm trying (and maybe failing) to say, is that Zidane would be the better of the two in an individual sport and would probably improve almost any team, but in football you should always consider how to make your team better, and I don't think Zidane (if he played in those years) would have been a better choice than Iniesta for Barça.

 

[MadchesterCity]

Top post.

MCFCOK

 

[Uffa]

I always preferred Xavi to Iniesta. He was seemingly more indistinct than Iniesta, but for me was the more important in what I saw.

Agreed.

 

[dublinblue12]

Whoever said pogba is better than Zidane needs a headbutt to the chest

 

[Onholiday(somemightsay)]

Iniesta was a cog[/B], albeit a very good cog, but Zidane was the complete engine.

I get the point you are making but that is still a pretty harsh description of Iniesta and his capabilities..........

 

[Onholiday(somemightsay)]

Iniesta was good

BUT

Zidane was legnedary

'Iniesta was good'

That is some understatement

 

[Onholiday(somemightsay)]

Agreed.

I always preferred Xavi to Iniesta. He was seemingly more indistinct than Iniesta, but for me was the more important in what I saw.

To be fair, I just like to think of them as being one of the finest double-acts that the game has created.

Neither would have been anywhere near as good or as successful without the other.

I remember when we have sporadically been linked with either of them down the years and thinking it be a crime to the global game if you were to split them up.

 

[Toffee Man]

It depends on what team they are fitting into. Iniesta was a vital cog within the Barca and Spain line-ups. If you'd inserted ZZ into his place, I doubt either team would have been as successful.

As a pure individual talent, I'd give the edge to ZZ. So if you had a team like Real Madrid of the early 2000s, which relied on individual brilliance, rather than a pattern of play, then ZZ was the perfect fit.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Cheers pal.
Personally i admired his approach and attitude,he just had that steely,emotionless,determination to always be the best.The headbutt was brilliant,it showed a raw side of his character that was often kept in check but was very telling in terms of his upbringing/background.

If you feel need to headbutt someone in any walk of life, let alone on a football pitch, then you're not the kind of company I'd like to keep.

and it's that emotionless, steely determination you mention that probably didn't make me warm to him as an 8/9 year old in the same way as the flamboyant Mediterraneans and South Americans.

 

[TCIB]

Iniesta for me.