Given the imminent announcement of Andrés Iniesta’s retirement, which would take place this Tuesday, an expected greeting arrived: that of Lionel Messi.
Through an Instagram story and while he was with the Argentine National Team, number 10 wrote: “One of the most magical teammates and the ones I enjoyed playing together the most. The ball is going to miss you and so will all of us. I wish you the best always, you are a phenomenon.”
Messi and Iniesta shared a team in Barcelona between 2004, when the Argentine rose to the first team, and 2018, when the Spaniard left the culé club. In that period, they won 32 titles together, including four UEFA Champions Leagues, marking the best era in the history of the Blaugrana team.
Messi and Iniesta were one of the great duos of the Catalan club’s golden era. They played 489 games together, where they won 337, tied 96 and were defeated 56 times.
If measured in percentage terms, this duo achieved an effectiveness of 68.9% victories.
The Brain, 40 years old and who spent his last seasons in Vissel Kobe in Japan (2018-2023) and Emirates Club in the United Arab Emirates (2023-2024), indicated on the first day of the month that this Tuesday, October 8, he would announce his future . And this Monday he published a trailer for a documentary – with Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Vicente del Bosque and Louis van Gaal as some of its protagonists – in which he will announce the news.
Within his immense legacy in football, Iniesta, one of the most talented and intelligent footballers of all time, is remembered for the goal he scored in extra time of the 2010 World Cup final in South Africa that gave Spain its first star. .
Throughout his two and a half decades of career, the Albacete native added 1,062 games, 116 goals, 195 assists and 40 titles, among the different categories.
Andrés Iniesta officially confirmed his retirement from professional football this Monday, through an emotional video on his social networks.
In the video, Iniesta himself begins with a short and direct: “What is football for him?” But the answer comes from Luis Enrique, with whom he shared a dressing room when he was very young and later directing him from the bench: “Do you know what it reflects for me? It reflects what we felt when we were children on the street, when your mother called you at night, that we couldn’t see the ball anymore…that’s Andrés Iniesta. He is 40 years old and he still has the doubt of whether he continues, I don’t continue and so on.”
Later it was Serra Ferrer’s turn: “He is one of the few footballers in history that I remember who was a teacher before he was a student. “I had learned everything.”
Pep Guardiola also joined, the man who brought out his best performance during his time at Barcelona and who valued his impact when the team was adrift: “For Andrés to come and tell you that we are on the right path was a kick. of energy, I will always be grateful.”
Finally, Vicente Del Bosque took his turn, the man who trusted him during the 2010 World Cup and the 2014 Euro Cup, especially in South Africa, who bet on him and repaid him by scoring the goal that made us World Champions: “I remember on the field of Espanyol, Barça was winning 1-4,1-5 and came out applauded by the entire field.”
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