Andres Iniesta completes ten dazzling years with the Barcelona first team
“A stunning debut,” pronounced the Catalan media about Andres Iniesta’s performance on his debut with the first team in Bruges acontencido in a Champions League match. He was 18 years old, baby-faced, light-weight but full of magic, enough for Louis van Gaal, an expert in providing alternatives, to throw him into the deep end. Barca won the night with a goal from Riquelme, another member of the guild of magicians. The following ten years after that day have been splendid for Iniesta. Andres is one of the greats. The road has been hard at times. It almost always is in the case of long paths. What remains important is that the triumphant sporting moments outweigh the disappointments by a landslide.
Frank Rijkaard, Pep Guardiola’s predecessor in Barcelona, once said the following about Iniesta at a press conference: “He plays like he’s handing out sweets. He controls, passes, makes himself available, always appears where he’s needed”.
Today marks Iniesta’s 10th anniversary of handing out sweets. It was on 29th October 2002 that Van Gaal gave him his debut in Bruges. He was 18 years old. “Be yourself”, Andrés recalls what Van Gaal told him. And, being himself has taken him to the highest peaks of football. A decade later, he has ended up being named the best European player of the year.
His goal against Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final and, above all, his goal against Holland in the World Cup final in South Africa, has given him star status that no-one can take away from him.
“Ten years already…I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that things would have gone so well for me. I feel very privileged”, the Spanish player reflected a few weeks ago.
Iniesta is not fixated on being the best footballer of all time. “Football will move on and, in the end, what remains are the people”, he has said on more than one occasion. Today is the 10th anniversary of the debut of one of the best and that is something for the world to celebrate.