With Iniesta, an era ends for Spain

MOSCOW: With Andres Iniesta, who retired from Spain duty on Sunday, a generation and a way of playing football may have, well, passed.

For years, Spain prided themselves on their possession-based game. At the heart of the idea were Barcelona mates Iniesta and Xavi, torch-bearers of tikitaka, a term that became part of football’s lexicon. Spain ruled football from 2008 to 2012 winning a World Cup on either side of two Euros.

Since then, La Roja have failed to make the quarter-finals of the three major tournaments they have played in. After Chile’s furious pace and their relentless pressing had Spain reeling, Xavi moved on in 2014. Like Iniesta against Russia on Sunday, the pass master had started on the bench at Rio’s Maracana.

Unlike against Chile, Spain had the lion’s share of the ball here. They completed 1031 passes which was two more than what Russia had made in four games. And yet they are going home with the gnawing feeling that relentless passing is a concept of limited effectiveness against teams that can organise their defence with five men and sit deep. Russia entered the quarter-finals making a mere 202 passes on Sunday. Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Silva, Cesc Fabregas and Javi Martinez, among others in midfield, Spain dominated and delivered through tiki-taka. But when Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan famously defeated Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in the 2010 Champions League semi-final, it was evident that there were ways around tiki-taka.

GUARDIOLA ADAPTS, SPAIN DO NOT

Guardiola subsequently adapted, at Bayern Munich and now at Manchester City. His City side got an injection of pace and is powerful on the flanks along with its ability to control the ball. In short, it is vastly different from the great Barcelona teams Guardiola developed.

Spain, however, haven’t evolved at the same pace. As their last three tournaments have shown, teams are more comfortable playing against Spain than they were a decade back. Like Germany, Spain too relied on the old guard. Apart from the retiring duo of Iniesta and Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Silva and Busquets have been part of the core in recent years. However, Thiago wasn’t called upon and neither was Saul Niguez, who has been everpresent in Atletico Madrid’s midfield for the past four seasons. Saul had managed just one start in Spain’s entire qualifying campaign.