Zidane and Iniesta

Zinedine Zidane. Both of his names start with the letter Z. Hence he is the better player.
 
Iniesta is 28. A lot of things could change before the end of his career. Imagine that he wins the WC in Brazil and 2 CL finals.
 
Zizou's the man for me, absolute magician, it was hilarious to me how he completely outshone Kaka, Ronaldinho and the much fancied Brazil team in the Quarter-Finals at the age of 33. He's my favourite player of all time. Iniesta is my favourite player now.
 
Why do we have to compare them? My two favourite players I've seen play.
 
Iniesta will be remembered as one of the greatest midfielder in our generation, but Zizou will be remembered as one of the greatest of all time.
 
If Iniesta adds another World Cup to his trophy haul, and possibly two more European Cups, this debate will be done in my view. They are extremely close at the moment, and what Iniesta does between now and when he retires will ultimately decide whether he overtakes Zizou or not.

Imagine both of them in the same team...
 
Zidane has the that special quality in him which brings out the best of teammates around me, making everything click and was the heart of everything. For me he is Iniesta and Xavi combined.
 
RedRonaldo said:
Iniesta will be remembered as one of the greatest midfielder in our generation, but Zizou will be remembered as one of the greatest of all time.
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If Iniesta plays an instrumental role during the next world cup i.e. say Spain v Argentina World Cup final and he ends up scoring 2, whilst carrying out his usual playmaking brilliance.. would he too not deserve to bracketed as one of the greatest of all time?

Personally at the moment, Zizou is ahead for me.. I just find him the more complete and charismatic footballer, one who could change an average team into great.. as he did in WC 2006 (That French team was shockingly bad in terms of performance level before he began to turn it on) but if Iniesta dominates for Spain i.e. outshining a Ronaldo or Messi .. one more time at a World Cup (in a superstar kind of way rather than just one of the key players for Spain i.e. goals as well as play-making brilliance), then it'd be far too close to call.
 
Brwned said:
In terms of completeness you've got Iniesta's versatility which has seen him play as a winger and a defensive midfielder which we never saw from Zidane. Even when Zidane wasn't playing in his favoured position it was either as a deep-lying playmaker or from a nominal wide position - quite different to what Iniesta has done. He's clearly a much better defensive player than Zidane. On the other hand you've got Zidane's superior strike and strength and not much else, no?

Iniesta just doesn't seem to have that ability to make the game revolve around him. He started off great in the Euro's and that was set up to be his Euro 2000 equivalent, but it just never happened. He has a good claim for being the best player in that Spanish squad now and he was clearly in good form, he just doesn't have that magnetism that Zidane did. On the one hand Iniesta's work ethic and attitude is hugely admirable in that he doesn't seek the limelight, but on the other hand that does hinder his game as an individual. Zidane was a great team player but very individualistic. Iniesta just isn't, never will be, and because of that he'll never have the singular influence Zidane was capable of.

That said, you'll get a few people coming in here and thinking the comparison's completely laughable and these are the people that have seen little of either player in La Liga, even in the big games...Iniesta consistently makes a mockery of Madrid in a way Zidane rarely did in Spain. There'll be compilation videos showing Iniesta in all his glory a few years after he's retired and that'll be when they realise the depth of his skill. He has a wonderful way of being a class above everyone else on the pitch and yet still doing it in an understated way.

Anyway, for me, the far more interesting comparison is Iniesta and Laudrup.
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For me it boils down to this as well. Iniesta is my personal favourite, his speed of thought and footwork is a rarity in the footballing world. But at the same time his style is more based on combining with his teammates, rather than being an individual going for glory/goals etc.

Possibly his lack of goals also doesn't put him up there with the likes of Ronaldo and Messi. Aside from goals/shooting you have to say he is better than Ronaldo and dare I say it on a similar level to Messi.
 
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