Peak Cesc around that time was blindingly good. He ended up being brilliant at the Euros too.
Cesc has significantly less class on the ball than Özil, and his way of seeing the game only really starts when he receives the ball too. Özil almost seems to see the game through other player's eyes at times.
Both of them have that uncanny playmaking ability to instantly figure and execute complex kinetics problems—those times there's only one place and time on the field for the ball to be so that a teammate's run will reach it just before the defensive runs of two or three opponents, they put it in that place at that time.
In any comparison between the two, Özil's relatively selfless attitude turns out to be a hugely important factor.
