The Bayern Munich man has heaped compliments on his team-mate and played down marking the attacking midfielder out of the match in the Champions League last season
Spain midfielder Javi Martinez has lavished praise on “out of this world” Andres Iniesta and joked that he would love to have the Barcelona star’s skills for just one day.
The 29-year-old put in a man-of-the-match performance in the world champions’ 2-1 win over Uruguay in their opening Confederations Cup clash and the Bayern Munich man thinks his international team-mate makes the most complex tasks look like child’s play.
“Andres is out of this world,” he told Marca. “What he did against Uruguay was amazing. Quite often it seems like he’s playing against kids. He gets around his opponents with such ease.
“I was telling [Victor] Valdes the other day, I would love to be Iniesta for just one game. He is unbelievable.
“When Iniesta is on the other team to you, you don’t enjoy it. He makes you suffer a lot and, if you give him an inch, he can do just about anything. But, when you play by his side, you can enjoy watching him do amazing things while making them look so easy.”
Martinez was coy about ensuring the Barca attacker was marked out of both legs of the European last-four clashes between the German and Spanish giants towards of the end of last season.
He added: “I was fortunate that in both Champions League semi-finals we were able to stop him and he didn’t create too much danger.”
Spain face Confederations Cup minnows Tahiti in their next game on Thursday, with kick-off at 21:00CET.