A football pitch is not just a court of grass. It is as if a minefield dotted with many hidden codes and invisible counter-points. They can be joined to create countless avenues and allignments. A goal is not just a kick, it is only the far end of a long chain, which takes place in the luminous minds of only those who can perceive it. In football we have strikers and defenders, but it is midfielers who keep the whole thing connected from dot to dot. And a football game may be won and lost by forwards and backs, it is “played” by midfielders greatly.
The Barcelona school of football is midfield-centric one. That is the Barca philosophy, conceived by the greats like Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola. The Barca docrine of football is simple : One who posses the ball, controls the match and who controls the match is the master of the game.
The modern Barca golden years are considered to be the Pep Gaurdiola era ranging from 2008 to 2012. And who was playing in the Barca midfield during these years? Xavi and Iniesta : two of the greatest midfielders of all times. Gaurdiola would place sometimes Busquets, sometimes Fabregas, sometimes Toure alongside them, but it was the magnificent duo of Xavi and Iniesta, who would control the game for the Barca and set the “Tiki Taka” style of play in motion. Yes, Lionel Messi scored most goals during the Guardiola years and he keeps scoring them still, but eventually it would not going to matter much. If Xavi and Iniesta were doing their job properly in the midfield then all they would need in the forward line was a deft touch and clinical finish. Yes, Messi is the best finisher in the history of football, but even David Villa, Thierry Henry, Eto’o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Ronaldinho could have done this job, more or less as good. The key was not in forward line after all, it was in midfield.
Reason, because football is more a team-game than any other sport. Yes, it has its own share of “individual brilliance” every now and then, like all other sports. But it is only a spectacular exception, not the golden rule. A Diego Maradona can fox half a dozen midfielders and defenders in 1986 World Cup quarter final to score a goal on his own, but then that was the “Goal of the Century” and every goal is not and can not be the “Goal of the Century.” Football happens at a more meditative pace, in the midfield, where the patterns of passes create the fabric of ball possession, by which teams master the game.
Who do you think is the biggest player of Barcelona today? Lionel Messi? No. It’s Andres Iniesta. Yes, Messi has scored hundreds of goals for Barcelona but it is Iniesta who has envisioned thousands of them. Barcelona can once play without Messi but it just can’t do without Iniesta. The ongoing season has become the epitome of this prejudice. Iniesta had to sit down and chill his heels due to an enjury that he had picked in the game played against Valencia and Barcelona was reduced to an average and clueless team in no time. It still had MSN in its forward line but they were not getting any signals from the midfield and the big Barca ship was left stranded in the sea of grass. Eventually Messi had to drop back in midfield and create chances. It was Messi’s personal brilliance only that saw Barcelona clear through some of the hard fought games but it was certainly not the Barcelone we all used to know.
And then, during El Clasico, Iniesta arrived after the half time and everything started to fall in the place. Suddenly all dots were connected and it was no longer a clueless Barcelona anymore but a formidable pattern functioning from defence to attack. Iniesta was controlling the whole thing from the midfield and within minutes the world came to know, as to where the key of Barcelona lies. It lies with Iniesta and why not. Wasn’t it Barca’s own philosophy that the game should be played from the midfield with short passes, keeping the ball possession and clean sheet, controlling the game.
Real Madrid has Luka Modric. Chelsea has Eden Hazard. Juventus until recently used to have Andrea Pirlo. But the best of them all is with Barcelona and his name is Andres Iniesta. Don Iniesta as he his fondly called in Catalonia. There is no such thing as Iniesta’s option. He is one and only. When Iniesta will be gone from Barca, we shall miss the beautiful game all the more as it was never going to remain the same thereafter.
