Andres Iniesta to retire as Barcelona and Spain icon picks date he will walk away
Andres Iniesta, a four-time Champions League winner who scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final, is set to hang up his boots 24 years on from his professional debut
Andres Iniesta will next week announce his retirement, aged 40, with the Barcelona and Spain legend choosing October 8 as the date of official confirmation - because of the shirt number he wore throughout his storied career.
One of the game’s finest midfielders, Iniesta has been without a club since leaving Emirates Club of the UAE when his contract expired in June.
Iniesta had recently said that he would like to continue playing but was also keen to move into coaching before “seeing what the future holds.” But in a post on Instagram he has teased his imminent decision to call time on a career that began with Barca’s B team in 2000.
He went on to make more than 400 appearances for the Catalan giants’ first team, winning 29 trophies and playing a central role in the side managed by Pep Guardiola that is widely considered the greatest of all time.
Iniesta earned nine La Liga winners’ medals at Camp Nou in addition to four UEFA Champions League titles.
Yet his greatest moment came in the Spain shirt - scoring the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final. He also won the European Championship for La Roja in 2008 and 2012.
After leaving Barca in 2018 he joined Vissel Kobe in Japan before heading to UAE for what has turned out to be his swansong.
Among the host of plaudits showered upon Iniesta throughout his career, Guardiola has previously hailed "his mastery of the relationship between space and time.”
In a 2016 book the now Manchester City boss spoke of how smooth he was able to move on the pitch and recalled the first time he locked eyes on the youngster in action - when he was still playing for Barca.
“Tito Vilanova defined him very well,” Guardiola said. “Tito used to say: ‘Andrés doesn’t run, he glides. He’s like
an ice hockey player, only without skates on. Sssswishhh, sssswishhh, sssswishhhh …’ That description is evocative, very graphic, and I think it’s an accurate one.
“He goes towards one side as if he was skating, watching everything that’s going on around him. Then, suddenly, he turns the other way with that smoothness he has. Yes, that’s it, Andrés doesn’t run, he glides.
“Sometimes in life, it’s first impressions that count and the first impression I have of Andrés was the day my brother Pere, who was working for Nike at the time, told me about Iniesta.
“I was still playing for Barcelona myself and he said: ‘Pep, you’ve got to come and see this kid.’ It was before the final of the Nike Cup. I remember getting changed quickly after training and rushing there, dashing to the stadium.
“And yes, I saw how good he was. I told myself: ‘This kid will play for Barcelona, for sure … he’s going to make it.’ I told myself that, and I told Pere that too.”
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