Rioja vs Barolo: a preview from an Arsenal perspective

In Saturday’s Guardian, there is a fantastic picture of Iniesta surrounded by five Italian players, literally encircling him in order to somehow get the ball of him. Straightaway, it reminded me of a very famous painting by Henri Matisse: ‘Dance’. In the artist’s picture, the dancers are naked and there is nobody in the middle.
Iniesta is the kind of player who can escape such a circle of top quality defenders and midfielders in a flash – leaving them behind like emperors without clothes. “When he has the ball, it’s like everything else stops”, says Torres – “He knows exactly when to release it [the ball], and he holds it so long, inviting pressure on himself and taking responsibility because, somewhere deep down, he knows that he is better than them”, says Guardiola.
Andres Iniesta is one...