- The Spaniard expressed his emotions at an event that was organized for his farewell in Barcelona
Spanish midfielder Andrés Iniesta announced his retirement as a professional footballer on October 8, at a conference in Barcelona.
Iniesta confessed that he never thought “that this day would come”, during his retirement ceremony held at the old IMAX cinema in Port Vell.
“I guess you’ll let me get excited today. But they are tears of emotion, of pride, not of sadness. They are the tears of that boy from Fuentealbilla who had the dream of being a professional soccer player. And I achieved it, with a lot of work and a lot of effort,” said Iniesta at the beginning of the event.
At his farewell, Iniesta was accompanied by around 450 guests, including his wife, Ana, his six children, his parents and his sister. Also present were some former FC Barcelona teammates such as Gerard Piqué, Xavi Hernández, Anderson Luis de Souza “Deco”, Sergi Roberto, Marc Bartra and Sergi Samper, with whom he coincided at the Japanese Vissel Kobe.
In addition, representatives of Barça, such as the first team coach, Hansi Flick, and the players Ansu Fati, Ronald Araujo, Dani Olmo and the president of the Catalan club, Joan Laporta, decided to support Iniesta in his retirement ceremony.
Review of Iniesta’s career
For more than an hour, Iniesta reviewed with those present his extensive career that led him to play until he was 40 years old and that began with that trip from Fuentealbilla to Barcelona when he was 12 years old.
“La Masia changed me forever. It is the best place to be to enhance the values that must be had in life. And grateful to all the people, teachers, classmates. It is a stage that undoubtedly marked our lives. Coming to Barça was a dream that I focused on, because I wanted to fulfill it,” recalled the Spanish midfielder.
During his speech, videos were interspersed with the opinions of many of the technicians he had throughout his career. From the first ones who coached him at Albacete, passing through Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, Louis Van Gaal, Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique Martínez or Vicente del Bosque.
“All the coaches I have had, each in their time, have had a very important influence on me. I can’t stay with just one. I can’t and I’m not saying it to look good. I have had the opportunity to score goals and see people going crazy for that moment,” Iniesta noted.
Iniesta also did not want to forget his last stage in Japan, five years that he defined as “wonderful” and that he assured he would never forget.
The Spanish footballer hangs up his boots with 39 titles and without ever having won the Ballon d’Or, despite having marked an era as one of the best midfielders in history, a distinction that he came close to in 2010, when he took the podium with Xavi and Messi, his teammates in the Barça team.
“The pride I feel is not for the titles, but for having fulfilled my dream of being a footballer and having won the affection of all the people. The image of Xavi, Leo and I, the three of us on the podium, is greater than having achieved it,” highlighted the now former soccer player.
New stage for the Spanish midfielder
Iniesta assured that a new stage is now beginning, although not “far from football.” In that sense, he added that he will continue to maintain his businesses while he trains as a coach.
“It can’t be any other way, because football has been my life,” the Spaniard insisted, confessing that his wish is to return to the Catalan club one day to contribute, in some way, all his football experience.
Iniesta also admitted that his idea was to retire with the Barça shirt, but he felt that it was not going to be possible and that is why he began a new professional stage in Japan.
“I would like to return to Barça at some point in my life. I think that those of us who have had so much influence and have been in this club for so many years, in one way or another, have to be there. The moment I feel that I can contribute what I did as a player in other roles, I would be delighted,” said the former soccer player.
With information from EFE.
Related news
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘648851442656403’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
#Andrés #Iniesta #announced #retirement #professional #footballer
