legend of Barcelona and the Spanish team, with which he scored “everyone’s goal”, Andres Iniesta He retires from professional football at the age of 40, after more than two decades of successful career that has led him to be internationally recognized as one of the best midfielders in history.
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The Spanish player won 32 titles as a Barça player in 16 seasons in the first team, among which nine stand out Spanish Leagues and four Champions Leagues, while with La Roja he was twice champion of the Euro Cup and scored in 2010 the goal that gave the Spain the only World Cup won so far by the men’s team.
Iniesta’s enviable career
Although beyond his record, Iniesta He will be remembered for the elegance of his football, possessing technical quality and a reading of the game that allowed him to dominate space and time, avoid rivals by changing the ball on his feet and advance meters with the ball sealed in his boots until he found the precise pass.
The rise of the midfielder was progressive. The Dutch coach Louis van Gaal made him debut on October 29, 2002, at 18 years old and wearing number 34 on his back, in the field of Witches during the group stage of the Champions League.
Two years later, in King’s Cup, He got his first official goal. Iniesta tasted the honey of the goal against Levante and under the direction of Manager Frank Rijkaard. At minute 3 of the second leg of the round of 16 he showed the way to victory.
Unforgettable goals by Andrés Iniesta
Often compared to a dancer for the lightness of his movements, the Manchego’s game was defined by the subtlety of controls, the talent for hiding the ball and the skill to associate with the first touch in the last third of the field. A dribbler and passer rather than a finisher, the shot was his last resort, and yet his career will be eternally linked to two goals.
The first, on May 6, 2009 in Stamford Bridge, when in the 93rd minute of the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea He scored the goal that qualified Barça for the final, a step prior to the third Champions League in the club’s history.
And the second, on July 10, 2010 in Johannesburg, when in the 116th minute of the final against Netherlands He scored the winning goal for Spain. An iconic play, as was the subsequent dedication to his friend and former captain of the Espanyol Dani Jarque, died in 2009 due to a heart attack.
Since it debuted in 2002 until its departure from Barcelona In 2018, the La Mancha midfielder won everything and won 32 titles as a Barça player: four Champions Leagues, three Club World Cups, nine Leagues, three European Super Cups, six Copas del Rey and seven Spanish Super Cups.
Unlike other club idols, Iniesta left the Barça through the big door, conquering the League and the Copa del Rey, in which he also scored and gave a recital in the final against Sevilla (0-5), and was fired with all honors in the Camp Nou, the culmination of months of ovations in most Spanish stadiums.
SPORTS
With EFE.
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