Lionel Messi has said that his Barcelona teammate and star midfielder, Andres Iniesta, should be given the Ballon d’Or award. Messi himself has also been nominated for this prestigious award, but, the great Argentinean feels that Iniesta has played better than him in the ongoing season and that’s why, he deserves to get the Ballon d’Or.
Messi has been in sensational form in the current season. He has found the net on 28 occasions in the ongoing season. Recently, he has broken the world record of the maximum number of goals scored by a player in a calendar year. The number of goals scored by Messi this year is 86. All these numbers are clearly pointing towards the fact that Messi deserves Ballon d’Or more than anybody else. But, the Barcelona superstar has a different opinion.
When asked which player deserves to get the Ballon d’Or award, Messi said, “I think Andres Iniesta deserves to get this award. He has had a fantastic season so far. He has not scored that many goals, but, the amount of work that he has done for the team is considerable.”
When asked how he is feeling after breaking Gerd Muller’s world record, “It’s an amazing feeling. Muller was a great player and breaking his record is quite special for me.”
“We have been playing magnificently so far in the season, but, we can’t afford to relax. Winning is a habit. Once you lose that winning momentum, it’s not easy to bounce back. So, we should continue the momentum.”
When asked about Barcelona’s performance in the match against Real Betis, Messi said, “Betis had been doing well in the competition and we knew that they would come hard at us. It was a close game, but, fortunately, we pulled it off.”
The midfielder of Barcelona, Andres Iniesta, has said that his team has learnt a big lesson from the last game against Deportivo La Coruna.
Barcelona was given a run for its money by the Deportivo team in a La Liga match played at Estadio Riazor on Saturday. Barcelona had to toil hard to win that match. Barca managed to secure a victory in that match by a very close margin of 5-4. Nobody was expecting Barcelona to concede 4 goals against a relatively weaker Deportivo team.
Barcelona made a very good start to the match and was ahead by 3-0 at one point of time. But, the Deportivo team made a brilliant comeback and scored two goals in a space of 10 minutes to reduce the lead to 3-2.
Deportivo got trailed by two goals again when Messi scored the fourth goal for Barcelona in the 42nd minute. At the half time break, the scorecard was displaying 4-2 in the favour of Barcelona.
The Deportivo team came all guns blazing in the second half. In the second minute of the second half, Deportivo got a free kick and Pizzi made full use of that opportunity. The Portuguese midfielder smashed the ball into the top corner of the net and made the match very interesting.
Messi scored his third goal in the match in the 77th minute and put Barcelona on the driving seat. This was the 21st occasion when Messi scored a hat trick for Barcelona.
Alba’s own goal in the 79th minute brought Deportivo back into the game again. But, the Deportivo team failed in scoring another goal in the remaining time and lost the match.
When asked about Barcelona’s performance against Deportivo, Iniesta said, “We obviously could have played much better than that. It’s a wakeup call for us. We made a number of mistakes in that match, but, in spite of that, we gathered all the three points. It won’t happen every time. We have learnt a lesson from that match and we are determined not to repeat the mistakes in the upcoming matches.”
The Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta has said that he owes a lot to his teammates for the accolade that he has received as the best player last season. UEFA recently voted the Barcelona midfielder as the best player from last season, as he contributed immensely to the Spanish national team on their way to the Euro 2012 victory. Even though Barcelona may not have won major titles last season, Andres Iniesta was one of the best players in the team. His performances have not gone unnoticed after he managed to beat the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the title of being the best player in Europe.
After receiving the award, the 28-year-old has said that he is extremely happy to receive such an accolade, but has said that it would not have been possible without the presence of some of the wonderful teammates. Even though Iniesta has been extremely influential in the Barcelona team for a number of years now, this is actually the first major award he has received. It is partly due to the extraordinary brilliance of Lionel Messi that other players within the Barcelona team have been overshadowed up until now.
“It is another moment to remember. The fans have seen me grow here for a long time and I have a very special affection for them. The key was to take the game. We could have won more comfortably, above all in the first half. We are pleased because we still have the advantage. When you have the chances you have to take them because if not, you will suffer,” said the midfielder ahead of the World Cup qualification campaign with Spain. Iniesta has played a major role in helping Barcelona start of the new season with three straight victories, which also includes the latest 1-0 win over Valencia.
Andres Iniesta has said that David Villa is an asset for Barcelona and it is wonderful to know that he has recovered from his injury completely. David Villa has been declared fit by the doctors of Barcelona and he would make a comeback in the team after remaining out for 8 months. There have been reports that Villa would play in the pre season match against Manchester United. Villa had undergone a severe injury while playing in a match of the Club World cup against Al Sadd in the last season. He wasn’t able to feature again for Barcelona in the remaining part of the last season. He also didn’t manage to play for the Spanish team in the Euro Cup. Villa’s absence affected Barcelona’s performance and the team failed to win the UEFA Champions League.
Iniesta said that Villa is one of the best strikers in the world at the moment. He has done wonders in the past and his presence would make a big difference in the upcoming season. As per Iniesta, Villa is a great player and he would not take much time to get into his groove. On being asked about his previous coach, Josep Guardiola, Iniesta said that he was a magical coach. He had that unique ability of bringing the best out of the players. Guardiola had resigned from his post a few months ago. Under his guidance, Barcelona performed amazingly well and won 14 titles. He is considered as one of the best managers that Barcelona has ever had. After the departure of Guardiola, Tito Vilanova has been appointed as the new manager of Barcelona.
On being asked about the new manager of the club, Iniesta said that the players are quite familiar with the working style of Vilanova as he has been working as Guardiola’s assistant. So, it would not be hard for Vilanova to settle in the manager’s role.
Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta has said that he is extremely confident that the future of the club will be as bright as it is right now. Iniesta has said that one of the reasons that he predicts bright future for Barcelona is due to the current crop of youngsters at the academy. The Barcelona academy has always been well known for producing excellent talent. However, the age of Iniesta and Lionel Messi has proved to be a sensational one indeed. Even after all the success they have achieved in the last four seasons, a large part of the first team of Barcelona is comprised of the players from the youth system.
The new Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova also looks like a manager who will stand by this policy of looking towards the youth academy first before entering into the transfer market. Iniesta was once a product of the same the Barcelona youth academy alongside the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Lionel Messi. He was the player of the tournament at the Euro 2012, and is one of the favourites to lift the FIFA Ballon d’Or award this season. If Iniesta wins this award, then it would mean that a Barcelona youth teams player has won the award in four consecutive seasons.
“The club is guaranteed its future in different positions. The most important thing for the younger players is for them to feel comfortable with the senior players. The players coming up should feel happy that they are joining a group of players who were once in the same situation that they are in now. What matters most is that you have to be confident in yourself, know that you are going to have to get through some difficult situations where you’ll need to have faith in what you can do,” said Iniesta.
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December 20, 2012 11:55 am | 
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