A biopic was made about Andres Iniesta four years ago that perfectly encapsulated why he will always be remembered as the greatest player in Spain’s long list of footballing legends.
‘Andres Iniesta: The unexpected hero,’ was the title, and the description was just as accurate. ‘The story of a normal person, who does extraordinary things. Someone who pursues and achieves triumphs through taking care of the small details.’
Quiet, shy and thoughtful, he kept out of the headlines and just went about his business. It’s hard to really think of anyone having ever been so good at something, and yet staying so humble.
Sat on the table next to him at a restaurant, or passing him on the street, you might almost be able to kid yourself that he’s just like you. Human.
He didn’t really even look like a footballer. The thinning hair, short, slight build – he was just a normal person, who really, really loved football.
Andres Iniesta has had a storied career in football that came to a close earlier this week
He played over 1,000 games for club and country, and never once picked up a red card
Iniesta deservedly retires as the greatest of all Spain’s long list of footballing icons
But then he stepped on a football pitch, and suddenly it all changed and he became something else. Not an animal or a monster, or even a god-like figure that we often compare Lionel Messi to, just quite literally different. Like he was playing scrabble on a chess board.
His former Barcelona team-mate Philippe Coutinho once described him as a ‘conductor’ who makes the team play to his music. He wasn’t wrong.
He gave his all to the team, and got everything back – the nine LaLiga titles, four Champions Leagues, two European Championship and World Cup trophies crammed into arguably the greatest trophy cabinet of them all attest to that.
And yet, he was never the central character to any of those great scripts. Just 93 goals in 881 club career appearances, and 161 assists both speaks to the misleading nature of such statistics but also the selfless team player that Iniesta was. That’s not to say he wasn’t capable of the outrageous, just that his contributions cannot truly be quantified as such.
Iniesta was a strange player, who was often at odds with himself, the contradiction to his achievements. A key facet in the greatest team we have ever seen, and the vital cog in international football’s most dominant force though he may be, but he seems the last person you would ever hear talk about it.
He no doubt benefited from the change in approach in Spain in the early 2000s, recognising that that crop of insanely talented if not physically imposing players could dominate the world playing the game a little differently.
The 5ft 7in midfielder from Fuentealbilla exemplified that more than any other. Not the quickest, nor the best passer, nor even the most lethal finisher, he was attuned to the rhythm and tempo of a game better than any to have ever even looked at a football.
It would at this point be rude not to indulge in a mention for his great partners in that epoch-defining trio of Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets. Like all great players, they played the game to the same beat, and quite simply nobody else could touch them. In terms of artistry, simplicity and potency, there will never be any better, and Iniesta was the best of the best.
Iniesta and Lionel Messi struck up a telepathic relationship for Barcelona in their hey-days
Barcelona and the Camp Nou pay tribute to Iniesta ahead of his final game for the club in 2018
Although he didn’t score many goals, the icon was still prone to extraordinary show-stoppers
There aren’t many players that glide across a pitch, but Iniesta would flit about on the periphery of recognition hardly catching the eye until he started running. At that point, there aren’t many who could drag their eyes away again.
Without the rainbow flicks, stepovers and rabonas of his more flamboyant peers, Iniesta waltzed and scythed through teams with artisanal ease – it was impossible to get the ball off of him.
There was never even a hint of the showman to his indubitable talent, none of the ‘Joga Bonita’ frills or fireworks, just a player who knew exactly what he needed to do in any situation to benefit the team.
A huge part of that was his massively under-rated discipline – in 1,016 games for club and country, he never once got a red card, and only picked up 79 yellow cards, a staggering one in 12 rate for bookings that is almost unheard of for a midfielder.
A lot of the time, it must be said, doing the best by the team meant giving the ball to Messi – after all, the pair combined for 53 goals overall. If you’re going to have an indefatigable connection with one player it might as well be the best of them all.
‘He’s the complete player,’ the Argentine great said, on the build up to Iniesta’s Barca farewell after 22 long years.
‘He does everything so easily and that’s difficult to do, but he brings it down to a simplicity that isn’t normal.’
A great example of this was his mastery of the ‘allioli’ as his Barca team-mates called it, a move that would have left even the greatest ballet dancers in a twist, but was one which many wouldn’t even know ever existed.
The diminutive Spanish midfielder was described by Messi as ‘the complete player’
Iniesta’s prime coincided with Barcelona’s supremacy on the continent from 2007-12
Without breaking stride he shuffled the ball from one side to the other, changing lines almost imperceptibly, and was suddenly beyond desperately lunging defenders who scarcely knew where he’d gone, pirouetting off in a completely different direction.
It was so minimal that you would be forgiven for thinking that translates to simplicity, even when the magician pulled out his party trick while sprinting through the centre of the park against Real Madrid.
Speaking of Los Blancos, it speaks volumes that they decided to pay their own tribute to Iniesta – the Barcelona legend – briefly forgetting their historic rivalry to pay homage to one of their foe’s greatest of all.
‘Andres Iniesta has enriched the sport through his football and his values, in addition to the numerous trophies he has won during his career,’ Real Madrid’s statement read.
‘His iconic goal in the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa will forever remain in the memory of every Spanish fan.
‘Real Madrid would like to wish him and his family the best of luck in this new chapter of his life.’
So ends the career of an unbelievable maestro, but the beauty of his talent is that he is someone that a young player can actually see themselves becoming. As Sergi Roberto once said, he is ‘a mirror’ and an ‘example’, showing you exactly how something can be done in a way that Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo never can.
Even the moment that should have been about him, scoring the winner in the World Cup final – irrefutably the biggest of all stages – was somehow about someone else.
After scoring the winner in the World Cup final, the crowning moment of any player’s career, rather than revel in his own glory and the moment itself, he took off his shirt to send tribute to his dear late friend, Dani Jarque.
There are a few players still plying their trade for whom you cannot countenance such a moment of self-awareness and humility, knowing billions are watching.
He chose the crowning moment of his career to pay tribute to his late dear friend Dani Jarque
After his final game for Barcelona, the Spaniard spent one last evening alone at the stadium he had called home for over 20 years – where he won nine LaLigas and four Champions Leagues
At 12 years old, having spent almost two months desperately hoping to open his Panini sticker, there was no player this writer wanted to score the winner more than Spain’s unassuming talisman, and that act of selflessness only vindicated that opinion further.
There are plenty of moments from this incomprehensibly glittering career to choose from; the screamer against Chelsea; the World Cup winner in 2010; Sevilla fans clapping him off the field after scoring the goal to deny them a Copa del Rey trophy; that image of five Italian shirts trying in vain to smother his influence; that lonely seat in the middle of the Camp Nou on his final ever night.
However it is the fact that in a world of superheroes, cyborgs and aliens, he managed to stay relatably human and still be the best.
Elusive, elegant and inescapable, he played the game the way you wanted him to – the right way. Adios Andres, y gracias por todo.