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Andres Iniesta is retiring from football at age 40 and the Barcelona legend received wonderful tributes from many of his former Blaugrana teammates, including the greatest player of all time, Lionel Messi.
“One of the most magical teammates and the ones I enjoyed playing with the most,” Messi wrote on his Instagram account, translated from Spanish to English by ESPN. “The ball will miss you and so will all of us. I always wish you the best, you are a phenomenon.”
Iniesta arrived at La Masia, the famed Barcelona youth academy, in 1996 at age 12, four years before a 13-year-old Argentinian named Lionel Messi showed up. The Spaniard made his senior side debut in 2002, two years before Messi. The pair would go on to play 14 seasons together in Catalonia, and together with several others who made up the core of those 2000s and 2010s Barca sides, would be part of some of the greatest football teams of all time.
From 2004 to 2018, Barcelona won nine La Liga titles, six Copa Del Rays, and three Champions League titles.
Iniesta left Barca in 2018 for five seasons with Vissel Kobe in Japan followed by one run at Emirates in the UAE. He last played for the Spain national team in the 2018 World Cup after having raised a World Cup trophy for his home country in 2010.
Pep Guardiola's legendary Barcelona lineup is nearing the end
With Andres Iniesta retiring, it marks the end of an era, as he becomes the latest 2008-2012 Barcelona player to hang up his boots. In those four seasons, legendary manager and former Barcelona midfielder Pep Guardiola guided what may be the best team of all time to three La Liga, two Copa Del Ray, and two Champions League trophies.
The core of the lineups in this period were: Victor Valdes in goal; Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Dani Alves, and Javier Mascherano on defense; Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, and Sergio Busquets in midfield; And Lionel Messi with a rotating cast of forwards that included boldfaced names like Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pedro, and David Villa upfront.
Now that Iniesta is stepping away, only Messi, Busquets — now reunited as teammates on Inter Miami in MLS — and Pedro (Lazio) are still playing professional football.
Valdes, Puyol, Xavi, Henry, and Eto'o all retired pre-2020 while Pique, Mascherano, Villa, and Ibrahimovic all called it quits at some point this decade.
Alves last played in 2023 in Mexico but his contract was terminated after his arrest and conviction for rape in Spain. Despite a four-plus-year sentence, he was released from a Barcelona prison in March after serving just 14 months.
Even Guardiola himself could be nearing the end of his professional managerial career. The 53-year-old Manchester City manager has a contract that expires at the end of the 2024-25 campaign and he has yet to sign an extension to keep him on the blue side of Manchester past this season.
