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Barcelona boss Xavier Hernandez has hailed his former teammate Andres Iniesta for recently playing his 1000th career game.
Iniesta, 39, is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the game's history and formed a terrific partnership with Xavi at the Camp Nou for more than a decade.
Having joined his current club, Emirates Club in the UAE last summer, the former Blaugrana midfielder played his 1000th career game on Friday (March 1) in a 2-0 loss at Ajman Club in the UAE Pro League.
Ahead of his team's La Liga trip to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday (March 3), Xavi waxed eloquent on his former teammate, terming Iniesta the 'greatest talent' he has seen in the Spanish game and one of the best ever overall.
“He is the greatest talent I have ever seen in Spanish football," said Xavi (as per Barca Universal). "He is also a friend. I congratulate him on his 1,000 games. He is one of the best footballers in history."
Barcelona trail Real Madrid (65) by eight points in the La Liga title race with 12 games to go. The Blaugrana will look to complete a league double over Bilbao, having prevailed over them by a solitary goal at home earlier this season.
How Xavi and Andres Iniesta fared at Barcelona
As mentioned earlier, Xavi and Iniesta are widely regarded as one of the best midfield duos to have graced the game.
In 486 games across competitions - most of them for Barcelona and the others for Spain - the duo made 19 joint goal contributions - with Iniesta making 14 of these assists and Xavi five.
They achieved success in both club and international football. Xavi and Iniesta won successive European Championships (2008, 2012), interspersed with Spain's maiden FIFA World Cup triumph in 2010.
In club football, for a dominant Barca team, Xavi and Andres Iniesta won seven La Liga and four UEFA Champions League titles, among others. Three of these La Liga triumphs and two successes in the Champions League came under the legendary Pep Guardiola, who now manages Manchester City.
