Legendary duo Andres Iniesta and David Villa have combined to devastating effect in Japan's J-League, scoring four goals between them in Vissel Kobe's stunning 5-3 win over Nagoya Grampus on Sunday.
All four strikes from the Spanish pair put Vissel Kobe into the lead as Nagoya couldn't drag themselves back into the match following Villa's 80th minute spot kick.
It was Villa who opened the scoring mid-way through the first half, bamboozling the Nagoya defence before expertly lifting the ball over Australian goalkeeper Mitch Langerak from a tight angle
The lead was held until the 58th minute when the ball fell to Ryuji Izumi's feet and the Nagoya midfielder poked home at the near post.
Only four minutes later Vissel Kobe regained the advantage, Iniesta showed his supreme class by picking up the loose ball on the edge of the box and curling the ball into the top corner past the outstretched fingers of Langerak.
But in keeping pace with the nature of the contest, Nagoya equalised shortly after when Kazuya Miyahara prodded the ball in following a fortuitous deflection.
The madness continued with the fourth goal in 11 minutes as Iniesta expertly converting a penalty but Nagoya once again drew level through Shinnosuke Nakatani.
However, Villa used his dribbling skills to be brought down by Langerak in the box on 80 minutes to give Vissel Kobe a 4-3 lead Nagoya would never recover from, with Keijiro Ogawa putting the icing on the cake three minutes from time.
Vissel Kobe jumped up to 11th on the table with six wins from their 17 matches but still remain 15 points behind first-placed FC Tokyo.
Villa has been an important contributor in front of goal, hitting the back of the net nine times in 15 matches, while Iniesta has struck three times and laid on three assists.
