Iniesta. Left for dead by Enrique. Dwindling minutes. Impressing to everyone his better years were far behind him. Afraid to play him more than 55 minutes at a time. Poisoned his reputation so much with Barca brass that they would see it impossible to, not just present a new contract, but even consider it.
Fast-forward to fall 2017 and Valverde. Iniesta starting. Routinely playing 75+ minutes a game. Masterful as ever controlling the attacking half. Easily able to track back defensively. Given a lifetime contract to play as long as he's able to make the first team.
Just a wonderful case for how much a manager can kill a career. Is Iniesta on the wrong side of 30? Of course. Is he playing at the same level as when he was 26? Of course not. But he's shown he's still world-class. And he's showing it every week. Enrique chose Gomes over Iniesta.
I'll let that sink in.
How is that even possible? No manager is the world could confuse the talent difference between the two. So why did Enrique phase out Iniesta?
How about Sergi Roberto? Enrique at least made the change to fullback for him that revived his Barca career. He was a natural at the position and looked the part after, maybe, 3 starts. Yet, he had trouble cracking the starting lineup until the latter 1/2 of the season when he was the only healthy full back left on the team. Again, fast forward to 2017. Not only is he Barca's best fullback, he's a world-class attacking fullback. Easily one of the more dangerous in the attacking 3rd with vision, passing and scoring chances. How about Rakatic? Tough to find consistent minutes under Enrique at his natural position. Now he's the norm or first off the bench when not starting, routinely playing 3 different positions. No more random routine starts for Gomes, Vidal, Turan, Rafinha or even Denny Suarez, who I like but is just young.
Barca 2017 are beautiful to watch if you like possession play. So much more enjoyable than under Enrique who hated long switches but liked the long ball. I'd even wager you can see the player's happiness back again. A year older but 4 years better. I'm not sure they'll have the legs to finish it out, and they don't have the overall in-their-prime talent as Real, but it's been a really good year to root for the old guys with a manager that makes sense.
Like it or not
