#6 La Masia wasn’t always home
La Masia may have become home to Iniesta by the time he left the protection of the academy, but that wasn’t always the case. The coordinator of the youth teams at the time, Albert Benaiges remembers him as someone who suffered from acute homesickness.
“He was very close to his family and every goodbye each weekend would become a mini-drama. Andres would be crying and he spent a lot of time at my house, and whenever my mother sees him smiling now she always makes a joke, because she remembers how much he suffered in those days.”
Iniesta himself has referred to those days as some of the worst of his young life but he never let that get in the way. The Spanish world cup winner said, “You would look out and there was the Nou Camp stadium opposite. It was always on your mind, that the goal was to play there.”
