Andres Iniesta who picked up a calf injury on the 72nd minute during Barcelona’s league match against Real Madrid has not managed to play for his club in their latest games against Celta de Vigo and Almeria.

The Spanish midfielder is far from being the same fast pace player that scored the winning goal for Spain during the 2010 World Cup. Iniesta still remains playing an influential role Barcelona but his impact is not the same as it was some time ago.

Not only has the influence of Andres Iniesta been diminishing recently but it’s also occurring with Xavi Hernandez as the experienced midfielders are not as reliable or consistent as they once were but despite this, Iniesta was still included in the shortlist of 23 players that are contenders on winning the 2014 FIFA Ballon D’Or.

This is the fifth consecutive year that Iniesta has been included in this exclusive list but this time around it seems incredibly difficult or unlikely that the Spanish midfielder will be awarded with the prestigious piece of silverware taking into consideration that it has not been the best of times for the midfielder maestro.

There was little that Iniesta could do as he watched Brazil overcome Spain with an overwhelming scoreboard of 5-1 and the Spanish national side was eliminated from the 2014 World Cup after suffering another loss but this against Chile.

His performances with Barcelona have not been significantly better either as Barcelona failed on winning any major trophies at the end of the year and his influence with his club has not been as big as compared to other seasons and now Neymar and Lionel Messi are the ones that are receiving all the attention as the main goal-scoring sources for Barcelona and some of the main figures that have been pushing the Spanish club to the top spots of the Spanish League.

The best years of Iniesta are past him and even though he still has managed to display glimpses of brilliance on some instances and certain matches, Luis Enrique has to start giving the chance for some of the younger players to step up and allow them to showcase what they have to offer for the next generation of players of Barcelona.