Iniesta should play until he has only one leg – Senna

Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta should keep playing football “until he has only one leg”, former Spain international Marcos Senna has said.

The 32-year-old returned to training this week after sitting out the 3-0 derby win over Espanyol and is expected to be available for Saturday’s LaLiga clash with Villarreal.

Senna won Euro 2008 as part of the Spain side that counted Iniesta, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, David Silva and Santi Cazorla among their imperious midfield options.

And the former Villarreal man says Barca’s number eight remains his favourite team-mate, telling Mundo Deportivo: “I have a long list but Iniesta is my favourite player.

“For me, he has to play until he has only one leg, until he has to be dragged away. He’s a phenomenon. I could talk about him until the morning, about his control, the class he has, the person he is…

“I hope he keeps playing for many years. If I were him, I wouldn’t think about leaving the top competitions now. At the very least he has to be playing at the highest level until the World Cup in Russia [in 2018].”

En el entrenamiento preparando el partido contra el Villarreal con el gran @DenisSuarez6! pic.twitter.com/zNFCfXKXBD

— Andrés Iniesta (@andresiniesta8) May 3, 2017

Senna, who spent 11 years with Villarreal and is now part of the club’s institutional relations department, is expecting a thrilling match at Camp Nou as Barca aim to keep up their title hopes.

“It’ll be an entertaining game, as they always are between these two teams,” he said. “We have to be ready to suffer because you suffer a lot against Barca, although my idea was always to think about enjoying it rather than suffering.

“Of course [Barca] can win the title. I think that the one who slips up even by a millimetre will lose the title. They have to play the remaining matches at 100 per cent, but I think it’ll be decided on the final day.”

Senna expects Barca’s fearsome front three to prove Villarreal’s biggest test and hailed each of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar’s individual qualities.

“They are three players you have to give a lot of respect to, more than other forwards,” he said. “I’m not afraid of them but I respect them a lot, because one is a killer, the other is number one and the other is an arrow.

“They are capable of changing a game at any moment. They have extraordinary quality.”

The 40-year-old, who was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, also believes Barca would be right to pursue Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho.

“Right now, he’s one of the greats of Brazil, he has a lot of quality and he’s ready to play for a team like Barca,” Senna added. “He has the level to play there.”