The Spanish Midfield magician bid adieu to the beautiful game today on 8th October 2024. Iniesta announced his retirement on social media through a post quoting ” Coming Soon 8/10/24″ 8 and 24 the two numbers donned by Spaniard in his eighteen-year-long illustrious career.
In his prolonged career, Iniesta made total of 674 appearances for Barcelona scoring 57 goals and 135 assists. In his career, totally he has won four Champions Leagues, two European championships and one World Cup. Iniesta was engine of the team and is the only player in the history of the game to have won man of the match awards in the finals of Champions League, European Cup and the FIFA World Cup. In this article let’s reminisice five greatest Andres Iniesta performances.
The Famous Semi -Final at Stamford Bridge
On May 6, 2009, the Argentian golden boy Lionel Messi and the Spanish Legend Andres Iniesta ruined the night for all the Blues fans at Stamford Bridge. The first leg of the semi final was held in Camp Nou, when the game ended in a goalless stalemate. Before their second leg, Blaugrana club had the tough challenge of facing their arch-rivals Real Madrid. Pep Guardiola’s men stunned Los Blancos by beating them 6-2. After beating Madrid, Barca have momentum on their side going to Stamford Bridge. The game started with the opening goal by Micheal Essein in the nine minutes. The game went on till the ninety minutes where the game was levelled with a goal by young Lionel Messi assisted by Dani Alves, and the winner was scored by Andres Iniesta in the ninty-third minute. After scoring the goal, he removed his shirt and celebrated. It is the most iconic celebration in the history of FC Barcelona.
Midfield masters at Wembley
FC Barcelona facing Manchester United in Wembely in 2011 Champions League final is the most iconic final ever. This game started with an early goal from Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney. The score was one nil at the half time with United leading. The Barca showed their class in the second half with insane possession dominance and three goals from Messi, David Villa and Pedro. FC Barcelona had insane 71% of possession with the midfield trio of Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio Busquests dominating the midfield. After this game, tiki-taka style of play became the new popular style of play. Pep Guardiola, Iniesta and the players of that team became immortal in the history of football.
Winning goal in the World Cup
The most famous goal scored by Andres Iniesta was the goal he scored in the final of 2010 FIFA World Cup against Netherlands. The 2010 FIFA World Cup which is said to be one of the entertaining tournaments in the history of football. The game between Netherlands and Spain went till extra time with Iniesta scoring 116th minute winning goal to win silverware for the Spainards. Andres Iniesta was not only given the man of the match, but also the man of the tournament.
Victory at Euro 2008
The iconic 2008 Euros finals took place between arguably two of the greatest teams of the time Germany and Spain. Spain were quite comfortable with their tiki-taka style of play maintaing the maximum possession in the game. Spain scored the winning goal in the 33rd minute with a slick pass from Andres Iniesta where the ball ended up in back of the net with a very good finish from Fernando Torres. Andres Iniesta was crucial in maintaing the position in the midfield. Xavi and Iniesta both acted as the anchors of the midfield and dominated the possession in the game. For their incredible performance, Iniesta was awarded the man of the match and Xavi was estemeed with the award of Man of the tournament.
Crucial Assist to Neymar
In the quarter finals of the 2014/15 Champions League, the Brazilian wonderkid Neymar has scored a wonderful goal against PSG to complete the comeback. Every football fan knows the famous remontada pulled by FC Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League quarter finals against PSG where they came back after conceding the four goals in the first leg in Camp Nou. In the second half, to win the game by scoring the sixth goal, Neymar dribbled past four Champions League defenders and played a one-two against Iniesta where he gave the most beautiful assist to Neymar to send Barca to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
