What if I told you 5 years ago that Andres Iniesta would become the best midfielder in the world?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This clown thinks Wes Sneijder is "far better" than Iniesta. Sneijder hasn't been good for 3 years. Iniesta is a brilliant player for club and country. C. Ronaldo won La Liga with Madrid and was on a Portugal squad that took the European champs to penalties. Spain winning the Euros is what clinched the trophy for Iniesta.

I wouldn't have believed you then, and so far I'd be right. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Yaya Touré, Andrea Pirlo and Wesley Sneijder are just some of the midfielders who are far better than Iniesta. What do you mean that you're proud that goals don't mean a thing? A forwards job, and Ronaldo and Messi are forwards, is to score goals, and they have a better goal to game ratio than anyone for a very long time. Iniesta has the easiest job in world football. His job is to play in the greatest club side in the world and pass to somebody. In Barcelona, there are always about three players to pass to in a five yard radius. Iniesta always takes the easy option. I have never seen him do anything special. His number of assists is very average and does not suggest that his passes are at all special. I once turned on the television, went to Sky Sports, and instantly saw Messi run around three players in the box, get taken down by the first player he beat, and calmly score the penalty. That was special. I then watched something else for a bit, went back to the football and immediately saw Iniesta get disposessed. That was not special. Iniesta is one of the most overrated players in the world, up there with Beckham and Rooney. I would rather a midfielder try something and see the ball intercepted than just a simple pass which slows play down, which is what Iniesta does every single time I watch him. He is incredibly popular though, for some reason, so I don't think this answer will do very well as far as thumbs are concerned. I don't know why you all like Iniesta. Nobody has been able to explain to me yet why he is a good player. You say 'give credit where credit's due', but you fail to explain why Iniesta is due credit. Do you even know why you think he is a good player? Can you explain it to yourself? Don't give me that pass completion rate nonsense; I've already explained why that means nothing. Xavi has to do the same job as Iniesta, in the same team, and Xavi does it better. Why does nobody think that he's the best in the world? I don't know. Sometimes, the media get fixated on a player, such as Diego Maradona, Ronald Koeman, Paul Gascoigne and John Barnes, and suddenly everyone thinks that they are great players. However, they are not. They are mediocre players. Iniesta is one of these players. I have told you reasons for why I don't think he is a good player. You have failed to do the same for your arguments. You just say 'Iniesta is a brilliant player', and think that that is enough. I can say, for example, 'Alex Scannell, the Huddersfield player, is brilliant', but that doesn't make it true, does it? If you back up your arguments, I am more likely to agree with them. Sorry. This turned into a bit of a rant, didn't it? Fair enough. He does do that. I just think that other players do it better.

@Martyn go watch iniesta beat three players And do a magical throughball to xavi for the barcelona third goal. Go watch him do his sinature "croqueta" on youtube and tell me he is nt something special. While schweni is good he is not above iniesta nor best 5 midfielders. Maybe pirlo but we saw him get overun by iniesta in the euro final, and finally congrats iniesta!

hes no the best, just in europe congrats andres!

Okay and it's still just another menial prediction. I wouldn't think much of it.

5 years ago? He's been the best midfielder for the last 4 years anyway, I have always rated him above Xavi But this award is for performances in Europe so no other player could win it really, Messi didn't play in an international competition so Iniesta had an unfair advantage there but CRonaldo had a good CL and good Euro (but not great). Iniesta was player of the tournament in the Euro and just did enough in the CL to scoop the award, although his La Liga performances will not see him get the Ballon D'or I have to say though Casillas should be above Messi and CRonaldo for this award...

He topped Ronaldo and Messi because Spain won the European Cup. He'll not win the Ballon d'or.

Head to head and goals mean nothing? Okay then, where's casillas' award? Captain of league winners, captain of european champions, best goal keeper in the world. A great player, but didn't deserve the title.