Andres Iniesta has announced his retirement from professional football but goes out as a true legend of the game
Andres Iniesta announcing his retirement has prompted an outpouring of love for a player who brought so much joy. His status in Spain is easy to explain but his admirers extend worldwide, such was his ability to bewitch with the ball.
As a journalist, the job often involves asking players and coaches about those more famous than themselves. It occasionally evokes a grimace. Others will have asked about Lionel Messi before. The guard can go up. With Iniesta, it was never like that.
Mention of his name, whether beside pitches or at press conferences, usually prompted a smile. People could not resist talking about him warmly. That the question had even been asked was almost like being welcomed into a fan club. So, you get it too.
Albert Capellas coached Iniesta as a young player, although he would use the word coached loosely. Even then, he understood the dynamic. “I trained Iniesta for several years and I always say that Iniesta came into this world to show us how to play football.”
Capellas’ view of the true greats was simple. “You do not correct them. They show you the way.” Pep Guardiola is rightly credited with transforming Barcelona, fashioning arguably the greatest side of them all, but it was possible, in part, because of Iniesta.
Together with Xavi Hernandez, they reshaped the game, putting opponents on what Sir Alex Ferguson would call the carousel. Twenty years ago, midfields were for the muscular. Iniesta and Xavi changed that. Possession became king. Mind over muscle.
Since then, he has won every trophy there is to be won, a champion of Europe and the world with Spain, as well as those four Champions League wins with Barcelona. Conqueror of La Liga on nine occasions, there were even a few more gongs in Japan.
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Not bad for the boy from Albacete who has cried as a 12-year-old boy as he struggled to adjust to life at La Masia, Barcelona’s academy. He was a reluctant hero, but a hero nonetheless – scorer of that goal in extra-time that clinched the World Cup for Spain.
Andres Iniesta struggled following the death of his friend Dani Jarque
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Iniesta paid tribute to his friend Dani Jarque after scoring in the World Cup final
He was a fitting scorer. His old Barcelona colleague Juan Roman Riquelme, a maestro himself, rated Iniesta as the player who understood football like no other, always choosing the right moment to move forward or back, speed it up or slow it down.
Shooting, as he did that day in South Africa, is a skill that can be learned, argued Riquelme. The awareness that Iniesta possessed was something else. “The only thing that cannot be taught or bought. That is something that you are born with.”
A conversation with Robert Moreno comes to mind. He was Luis Enrique’s assistant for three years at Barcelona, during which time Iniesta won his final Champions League. As with Capellas, he saw himself as guided by the great man rather than there to instruct.
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“Sometimes your job is to give lots of information. But at the top level, you are not there to teach them everything. You are there to put them together to make the most of the team that you have. Sometimes that means you need to shut up and let them play.”
“This is the big difference with these players. Lesser players need your help. These players let you know that you are there because they need someone to sit on the bench and pick the team.” Even comprehending their decision-making process is difficult.
“What the best players in the world do is impossible to explain. Ask Xavi or Andres Iniesta why they have done something and they do not know. But you did it? ‘Yes,’ they say, ‘but I do not know why. I was on the pitch, this felt like the best solution so I did it.'”
Source: Sky Sport
