Andres Iniesta's Best Performances in the 11 Years Since His Barcelona Debut

Andres Iniesta has never scored more than nine goals in a season.

In 92 appearances for Spain, he has found the back of the net just 11 times.

And yet in the 11 years since his Barcelona debut, the diminutive playmaker has won well near everything there is to win and has built a reputation as one of the finest playmakers to ever step foot on a football pitch.

A gifted passer of the ball, an instinctive runner with an philosopher’s understanding of space and time, Iniesta is a genius—a thinker and performer who has nevertheless gone about his vocation with a pauper’s modesty.

But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be celebrated.

The following slides will showcase five of Iniesta’s finest matches since his Blaugrana bow on October 29, 2002.

And, as proof of what a champion he has become, they represent the biggest competitions at both club and international level.

2009 UEFA Champions League Semi-Final

The second-leg of the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final is mostly remembered for a post-match melee that saw a crowd of Chelsea players, including Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba, hurl abuse at referee Tom Henning Ovrebo.

They were incensed at the Norwegian’s handling of the match, in which a handful of Chelsea penalty shouts had been ignored while Barcelona, coming off a 0-0 draw at Camp Nou in the first-leg, struggled to make an impression on the encounter.

But a moment of magic in the third minute of second-half stoppage time had seen the Catalans suddenly turn the tie on its head and progress to the final instead of the Blues, and it was Iniesta—his one-time strike from the edge of the area capping off a terrific performance—who provided it.

2013 UEFA Champions League Round of 16

Following a 2-0 defeat away to AC Milan in which Barcelona, who would go on to win La Liga, were comprehensively stifled, the Catalan giants played what Iniesta would later call “one of the most complete games we’ve played.” (Goal.com)

It was about as complete a performance a player could ever hope to put together as well, as over the course of the 90 minutes Iniesta would dominate two-thirds of the park.

At the final whistle the statistics showed he had touched the ball 116 times, completed 84 per cent of his passes, successfully executed three dribbles and won the ball off five opponents. (Statistics courtesy WhoScored.com

Barcelona won the match 4-0 and progressed to the next round of the competition.

2011 UEFA Champions League Final

Iniesta won his third Champions League crown with Barcelona, and second in three seasons, on May 28, 2011 following a 3-1 defeat of Manchester United at Wembley.

As Ferguson would point out after the match, it was a rather deceptive scoreline.

“Nobody’s given us a hiding like that, but they deserve it,” he said in his post-match press conference. (BBC)

He added: “In my time as manager, it’s the best team I’ve faced.”

And Iniesta had a lot to do with the humbling of the Premier League champions.

In what was one of his best-ever performances, he exchanged 66 passes with Xavi Hernandez, touched the ball 127 times overall and completed an astonishing 93 per cent of his passes while earning an assist on Lionel Messi’s match-winner. (Statistics courtesy WhoScored.com)

Euro 2012 Group Stage

Perhaps Iniesta’s most complete performance at international level came in Spain’s final Group Stage match at the 2012 UEFA European Championship in Poland and Ukraine.

Needing a result to ensure progression to the quarterfinals, he took what was a scoring-challenged team and put it on his shoulders, creating chances and finding teammates in 90 minutes of the most artistic football one could expect to see from a playmaker.

With just two minutes remaining on the clock, he found Jesus Navas for what proved to be the only goal of the encounter, although by that point he had already left his mark on the match.

Not only did Iniesta complete 87 per cent of his passes against Croatia, but he also executed three dribbles, tested the opposition goalkeeper with three shots and for his efforts was named Man of the Match—one of three such awards he would claim at a tournament he dominated.

2010 World Cup Final

How many children have dreamed of one day scoring a World Cup-winning goal in extra time?

For Iniesta that dream became a reality on July 11, 2010 when, after a clever back-heeled pass in the buildup to the goal, he blasted the ball past Netherlands goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg just four minutes before referee Howard Webb would have been compelled to send the match to penalties.

Iniesta had also scored the winner against Chile during the Group Stage of the competition, but his goal at Soccer City would forever mark him out as one of world football’s truly big-game players.