Against Deportivo la Coruna, Andres Iniesta returned - only to watch the game from the bench but maybe with a view to the Manchester City game in mind, however another no show means that the captain is only the 18th most used player for Luis Enrique this season.
Special attention is being paid to El Ilusionista, Lucho making sure that one of his best players is looked after, yet only Paco Alcacer of the regular squad has featured less.
"Luis Enrique gives rest to Iniesta," is a headline that is becoming far too common in this early of the season.
Jeremy Mathieu, Javier Mascherano, Denis Suarez, Andre Gomes, Rafinha and Arda Turan, to name a few, have enjoyed more minutes in this campaign.
Iniesta has also started the last two international games for Spain on the bench.
With circumstances in the Alaves game forcing the player off with half an hour to go and now the latest rest, surely the sabbatical is complete now.
Minutes played in LaLiga for first team players
The first two match days were lost through injury.
Against Real Betis and Athletic Club, a strained posterior capsule in his right knee meant he could play no part but for the Deportivo and Sporting games, there were no medical reasons why he couldn't play.
As the years pass, the stars do have to take more care and Enrique understands that more than most.
In his first year as Barcelona coach, Iniesta had played 433 minutes at this stage, 360 last season and 226 to this point of 2016/17 - equivalent to just two and a half games in eight match days.
However, he will, almost certainly line up against Manchester City and perhaps we might start to see more of him again.
Comments
Post a Comment