Lionel Messi is extraordinary but Andres Iniesta is close second, proclaims Luis Enrique
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Former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has confessed that while Lionel Messi is the player who has impressed him the most, only Andres Iniesta ever came close to the Argentine. Part of the 2010 World Cup winning Spanish squad, Iniesta made quite a name for himself at Barcelona before leaving.
The Spaniard is considered to be one of the greatest ever players to play for Barcelona and one of the greatest ever in his position. Few even believe that without Iniesta, the La Liga giants would have struggled to dominant the world the way they did although that was something that nobody had to ever see. The now 35-year-old eventually left Camp Nou in the summer of 2018 after spending twenty two years with them.
But according to former Barcelona manager and current Spain head coach Luis Enrique, only Andres Iniesta ever came close to the talent that Lionel Messi has. The Argentine is considered to be one of the greatest to ever play football and is the best thing to walk out of La Masia but Enrique added that while he was always beyond impressed with Messi during his time at Camp Nou, Iniesta was a close second.
"The player that impressed me most in my career, I don't know if you mean being myself as a player or as a coach or both, without doubt is Leo Messi. Afterwards, I can say that Andres Iniesta is close to something similar to Leo Messi. But Messi is hugely different in respect to the others," Enrique said in an interview on Facebook.
The former Barcelona left to manage the Spanish national team and under his tenure La Roja have transformed themselves into a top international team again. However, despite a taking a five month break for personal reasons, Enrique returned as Spain’s head coach in time for a Euro 2020 that has now been pushed by a year. But the 49-year-old went on to admit that a year will make no difference as his side are more than capable of winning something.
"We have to try to prepare for the Euros in the best way and recuperate a good line of action, being in the hunt to win trophies. I see the national team capable of winning things - in fact that is one of the challenges that I think about as the head coach of Spain. I have never hid this, but it is obvious that we are within a process.
"And there are a group of other national teams with great potential. We are part of this group of six or seven national teams that can access the goals - our performance will say if we can get there or not,” he added.
