The captain is hitting top form at the right time
Luis Suarez may have stolen all the headlines against Sevilla after that goal but there was another performance at Camp Nou on Wednesday that left Luis Enrique purring.
Andres Iniesta, on his 700th appearance for the club, put in one of those displays as Barca ripped Sevilla to shreds in a stunning first-half performance that saw the visitors troop in at half-time 3-0 down and thoroughly demoralised.
"Everyone has highlighted this, but it's just wonderful to see him play, his movements, he knows where the opposition players are," Luis Enrique said after the break.
"He is a football artist, a genius, he turns a sometimes rough sport into something subtle, like a painter.
“An example for all children in the world, for all people. Never a bad gesture, never bad attitude.”
It’s been a difficult, injury-interrupted campaign for Iniesta, who has played less minutes than any other Barca midfielder this season. Indeed Wednesday’s clash was only the sixth time this season he has completed 90 minutes.
But what a 90 minutes it was, Iniesta hardly put a foot wrong all match and the statistics simply highlight what a huge impact he had on the game.
The midfielder recovered the ball 12 times, and was also top for interventions with 106 and completed passes with 82 out of the 90 attempted – a passing accuracy of 91.1%
12 - Andrés Iniesta made 12 recoveries against Sevilla, his highest tally in a game this season (all competitions). Vitamin. http://pic.twitter.com/qf6nSMIenu
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) April 5, 2017
| Iniesta recovered the ball 12 times vs Sevilla and was also top for interventions (106) and completed passes (82). http://pic.twitter.com/SBo1aBpRD9
— Catalan Edition (@CatalanEdition) April 6, 2017
Iniesta of course knows full well what is needed at this time of the season and with Barca set to face Juventus, Sociedad, Madrid and Espanyol in April, his influence will prove crucial
“It is never easy but this section, this month of April where everything is decided we are playing well and that is the important thing," Iniesta said.
"We are in everything and we can be in nothing if we do not do things right. It can be a great end to the season.
"I think we have to think about the next game. This has been demonstrated in previous days. [Real Madrid] drew with Las Palmas and we lost to Deportivo La Coruna.
“We have to treat the games as finals and see how we got there. If we want to win the Liga we have to win at the Bernabeu."
Lucho has hinted Iniesta will have to get used to playing less minutes but on this form he looks ready to play a major role as the season reaches its climax.
from Barca Blaugranes - All Posts http://ift.tt/2oQ7S96
0 التعليقات:
إرسال تعليق