Andres Iniesta
(Andrés Iniesta Luján; Fuentealbilla, Albacete, 1984) Spanish soccer player. Formed at La Masia azulgrana and linked from its origins to the Futbol Club Barcelona, he has been one of the fundamental pieces of the Barça of Josep Guardiola, winner in 14 of the 18 competitions he played during his four years as coach (2008-2012) . Equally decisive has been his contribution to the recent successes of the Spanish team: he scored in the final against the Netherlands the goal that the South Africa World Cup (2010) gave the Red and was declared by UEFA the best player in the European Championship. 2012, a trophy that Spain raised for the second consecutive time, after having also obtained victory in the 2008 edition.
Andrés and his younger sister, Maribel, grew up in a working class family. His father was a bricklayer and his mother helped grandfather in the bar that he ran in the village. Always playing ball, at the age of eight his parents decided to enroll him in the selection tests to enter the lower categories of Albacete Balompié. It was there that, according to his own account, he gave his first "serious flicks". In 1996, when he participated in the Brunete Tournament, he caught the attention of Albert Benaiges, of the Futbol Club Barcelona, who must have seen something in that boy of only twelve years old, because he did not hesitate to sign him and take him to Barcelona.
The beginnings at La Masía, the Barça club's football training center, were not easy. Accustomed to a rural environment, to share all moments with family and friends, Andrés was slow to adapt personally. This was not the case in terms of football, since its progression in this sense was quite rapid: already in the middle of the 2000-2001 season, it went from youth to Barça B, and became the brain of the team that Josep Maria Gonzalvo was training at the time. . Regarding his morriña and attachment to the family, things changed when his family decided to move to live in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, in the outskirts of Barcelona.
Andrés Iniesta officially debuted with the Barça first team in the 2002-2003 season, in a Champions League match, under the guidance of Dutch coach Louis van Gaal. During that season and the following, the midfielder alternated the games in the two categories, definitively going to the first team in the 2004-2005 season, with Frank Rijkaard as coach. Although he was not a regular in the starting lineup, the youth squad played almost every game and won his first league.
His consecration, however, would come in the 2005-2006 season. With Xavi Hernández injured, the midfielder became one of the benchmarks of Barça, who won the League, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup. Things did not go so well in the following seasons for Barça, who saw the Rijkaard project run out and run out of major titles. On an individual level, however, Iniesta's progression did not stop, and in January 2008 the club and the player reached an agreement to renew their contract until June 30, 2014. Their termination clause went from 60 million to 150 million euros.
The 2008-2009 season was historic for the player and for the club. Barcelona had signed a young coach, former club player Pep Guardiola, to lead the first team. The decision of President Joan Laporta surprised and few were at the beginning of the season those who trusted that the team had good results. Time, however, proved Laporta right, and Barcelona, with Iniesta as a key part of the team, won the Champions League against Manchester United; the azulgrana had reached the final thanks to a goal from Iniesta in the second half of an agonizing overtime against Chelsea, at Stamford Bridge, when no one was confident of victory. The team also won the Copa del Rey against Athletic Club de Bilbao and won the League again. Before the end of the year, Barcelona added three new titles to its record: the Spanish Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the World Club Championship, completing a historic 2009.
Iniesta's contribution was essential in Guardiola's four years at the helm of the team, a golden stage already considered among the best in the club's history. To the six of six possible titles of the 2008-2009 season, a record never reached before by any team, it was soon necessary to add, in the 2009-2010 season, the most disputed national league championship -with record of points included- in the history of the competition, and the Spanish Super Cup; in the next, 2010-2011, the Spanish League and the European Champions League, victories that gave the right to play the Spanish Super Cup, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup, all of which went to the showcases. from the Barça museum. The last season of Guardiola, 2011-2012, brought only the Copa del Rey,
Of great relevance has also been the contribution of Andrés Iniesta to another golden age, that of the Spanish national team, with which he has garnered no less than two European Cups and one World Cup. With the lower categories of the Spanish team, Iniesta was already in 2003 runner-up in the FIFA Youth World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, a tournament in which he was chosen as a member of the ideal team, and, the following year, champion of the Eurocup Sub- 19. He was called for the first time with the absolute on May 15, 2006.
That same year he was selected to play the World Cup in Germany, starting in the third match, against Saudi Arabia. The luck of the Red, however, was cut shortly after, and Spain fell in the last 16 against France, in what was to be the last chapter of the so-called "curse of the eighths". Things would indeed change at Euro 2008, held in Austria and Switzerland. The coach Luis Aragonés had Iniesta to play all the matches. Spain won the final against Germany (1-0) and was proclaimed champion. The midfielder was chosen as a member of the tournament's ideal team and the best player in the semifinal against Russia.
If his role was decisive in the Eurocup, it was no less so in the Soccer World Cup held in the Republic of South Africa in the summer of 2010. The team, which was backed by its European success, started losing the first match, against Switzerland. Then she rectified and demonstrated the quality of her players: the group stage finished leaders and then went through all the qualifying rounds. On July 11, 2010, in the final against the Netherlands, the Castilian-La Mancha midfielder scored in the aftermath of the extension (minute 116) following a pass from Cesc Fàbregas. That goal, which a year after the famous goal of Stamford Bridge also came at the most opportune moment, gave the title to Spain for the first time in its history and made Iniesta the greatest idol of the Red fans.
He stood out even more on an individual level, if possible, at Euro 2012, held in Ukraine and Poland. The team started again on the wrong foot, tying 1-1 against the Italian team, but its powerful machinery was greased as the competition progressed until reaching the final, where it overwhelmed with an unusually bulky result (4-0) to, curiously, Italy itself. Without scoring a single goal throughout the championship, Iniesta was named the best player in the tournament by UEFA; the federation thus recognized its high quality and moment of form and the key role that the passes and their skills as an organizer had for the team.
Timid and restrained, Andrés Iniesta is appreciated beyond the traditional rivalries of the fans. He inseparably links the international projection of his football talent with humility and modesty, and, as an exemplary embodiment of the simplicity of rural Spain, he has put his hometown, Fuentealbilla, on the map. Lover of the land and his longtime friends, he has vineyards there to make his own wines and a house on the street that bears his name. He does not know ingratitude either: in 2011 he became the main shareholder of Albacete Balompié, the club that supported him in his early days as a footballer, and signed a sponsorship contract on his behalf; The shirts of this club now announce their wine company, the Bodegas Iniesta.