Imo iniesta is the best midfielder ever and even better than xavi.
Prime iniesta was orgasmic to watch. Nowdays we use it too often for way less orgasmic things but peak iniesta man, orgasmic af.
Second best player that I have witnessed personally after messi.
It's like choosing between your children, but IMO Xavi is just absurd. He's the Messi of orchestrating midfielders.
We're talking about a guy who literally averaged over 100 passes per game in his prime in La Liga and UCL, that's like a season or career best performance for even the best deep lying CM's today except he averaged it for a SEASON. Pulling all the strings and controlling the tempo of the game at a level never seen before or since. No one had his understanding of space and geometry on the football pitch.
And it wasn't just about the # of passes and impact in buildup, he was also a GOAT level creator. He's called Mr. Throughball for a reason and he's one of the few that could ever match Messi at the frequency of pulling out jaw-dropping long through balls on the ground or in the air.
To this day he still holds the record for most assists in a Liga season IIRC (20) with only Messi and Di Maria ever coming close. Also had a crazy amount of key passes per game in his prime, equal or greater to prime Ozil/Messi/De Bruyne. His 'all time great' performances are just mind-boggling. 4 (!!!) assists vs RM in that 2-6 game at the Bernabeu, assisting in both the 2009 and 2011 UCL finals, as well as both 2008 and 2012 Euro finals for Spain. That barely touches the surface of his GOAT level performances, but it gives you an idea. It's like he's De Bruyne and Thiago combined into one player but even better.
The top 5 mids of the past year are some truly magical players that I love to watch, some of whom are historically great. Yet they still don't even hold a candle to Xavi. It's just crazy putting his performances into perspective and seeing how much better he was.
