Barcelona star Andres Iniesta has been at the club since he was a 12-year-old. Having spent 20 years at the Catalan club, you would expect the Spaniard to have lived his dream of choosing football as a career and winning numerous trophies.
But before the 32 trophies with both club and country, Iniesta reveals that the ‘worst day of his life’ was spent at La Masia. Having joined the La Liga club’s academy back in 1996, the day he joined the academy is one he will never forget.
Unlike most of the La Masia graduates at the time, Iniesta was not Catalan. He came from a village called Fuentealbilla in the province of Albacete – more than 500 kilometres from Barcelona. Iniesta was a very shy boy and cried when his parents left him at La Masia.
“Yes, it seems absurd, but true,” Iniesta explains in his new autobiography The Move of My Life. “The worst day of my life I spent in La Masia.
“I had a feeling of abandonment, of loss, as if I had pulled something from inside, deep inside of me. It was a very tough time but I wanted to be there because I knew it was best for my future, of course.
Iniesta was not exactly the outgoing type and, as he rose through the ranks of the junior levels, even journalists had been advised not to ask about his family lest he burst into tears. And he missed them so much that when his parents visited him, he would even sleep in their bed.
“It was a very bitter pill to swallow because I had to leave my family,” Iniesta says. “Not seeing them every day and not having them close; it was very hard.
“I chose it for me, it's true, and it made me... It made me...”
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Iniesta nearing Barcelona return as he recovers from a knee injury
The 2016/17 La Liga season is already underway but Iniesta is yet to feature for the defending champions. The 32-year-old is still recovering from the knee injury he suffered in the 5-0 win over Sevilla in the first leg of the Supercopa de Espana. Iniesta had to be substituted in the 36th minute with Denis Suarez taking his place.
The initial prognosis suggested that he would be out for at least two weeks. But when speaking to Spanish radio station Cadena SER, Iniesta said his recovery was on schedule and that he would be available for the third league game against Alaves.
When asked about his knee and the recovery, he said: “My knee is getting better and I hope that that will continue over the next few days.”
Barcelona won their first two fixtures against Real Betis and Athletic Bilbao and are currently joint-leaders of La Liga with Real Madrid and Las Palmas.
