To an extent, Andres Iniesta’s return from injury will greatly help in addressing the problems Barcelona have been encountering in midfield during the last few weeks.
Despite now being 32 years old, Iniesta is still one of the best players in the world at linking defence with attack, thanks to intelligent reading of the game, his still magnificent dribbling skills and an innate ability to both spot and execute a killer pass.
It’s no surprise at all that the Catalan team’s sharp downturn in form coincided with the loss of their emblematic skipper through injury at the end of October, nor that their notable second-half improvement against Real Madrid coincided with his return to action from the bench.
No matter how good a forward line might be – and Barca’s front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar are arguably the best in the history of the game – they cannot function effectively if they don’t have the ball. And over the last two years, since Xavi entered his inexorable decline, nobody has done more to give Barca a workable team structure than Iniesta.
One particular game springs to mind as an example, and it’s not the most obvious one.
Back in March, Barca hosted Getafe at the Nou Camp and tore their relegation-threatened visitors apart. Messi, Neymar and Munir El Haddadi – replacing the rested Luis Suarez – combined for four goals as the hosts raced into a 6-0 lead with just an hour played.
But the man pulling the strings was Iniesta, whose brilliant orchestration of the midfield gave the front three the necessary platform and the required ammunition to do their thing.
With the points obviously in the bag, Luis Enrique replaced Iniesta with 30 minutes remaining…and his team lost their way. Getafe were too outclassed to mount any kind of comeback, but there were no more goals, very few more chances, and the game fizzled out even though Messi and Neymar stayed on to complete the 90 minutes.
Iniesta’s brief absence did not matter on that occasion, but in the last few weeks it certainly has.
Without his guiding influence, Barca have drawn four of their last five games and suffered a comprehensive 3-1 Champions League defeat to Manchester City.
Now he is back and Barca can breathe an enormous collective sigh of relief. But that doesn’t mean their problems are solved, because no team can enjoy sustained success when it relies so heavily upon one man.
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