There is a moment in Andres Iniesta’s soon to be released biopic ‘The Unexpected Hero’ when a somewhat forlorn looking Lionel Messi contemplates the inevitability of his own retirement.
Asked about the day Iniesta left Barcelona in 2018, Messi says: ‘The year before, Xavi had left, then Andres, and bit by bit there are fewer and fewer of us left from that wonderful period. It’s seeing that the time is coming for all of us.’
The good news from lockdown in Kobe, Japan, where Iniesta is currently waiting for the J1 League to start up again, is that he believes the gang will get back together again one day, albeit to help run the club, instead of playing for it.
Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta would like to return to the club to help run it in the future
The Spaniard expects Lionel Messi (left) and Xavi (centre) to reunite with other club legends
The scorer of Spain’s greatest ever goal, the serial trophy-winner at Barcelona, and the Peter Crouch holiday pal – more of which later – says: ‘Us players were all there for so many years, experiencing the club as kids then getting into the first team, staying for 10, 12 , 15 years, becoming captains.
‘Victor Valdes, Xavi, [Carles] Puyol, then Leo [Messi], Busi [Sergio Busquets], [Gerard] Pique. The moment could come when all of those players coincide at the club [again].’
It’s an idea that will cheer up the supporters of the Catalan club, currently far from the way they were when Iniesta was in his pomp.
Since the Messi-Iniesta era Barcelona have barely managed to bring a single player through from the youth team and establish him as a first-team regular.
So, will the impending economic depression, likely to follow the coronavirus pandemic, force clubs back to homegrown talent?
‘Everything that is happening is bound to have an effect on a social and economic level and football is not going to be exempt from that,’ Iniesta says. ‘There will be a before and after. We have to try to take out the positives from what is a terrible situation.’
Barcelona have struggled to bring through young players, as they did with Iniesta and Co
Iniesta, who now plays for Vissel Kobe, is currently on lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis
Japan’s J1 League, in which Iniesta’s Vissel Kobe side play, was only one week into the season when it was shut down. There are plans for it to return on May 9.
‘The situation here appears to be under control,’ he says. ‘From the start the schools were closed; mass gatherings were cancelled, and in terms of hygiene precautions and the way that people conduct themselves, wearing masks, it’s all seen as very normal here anyway. That has, in part, helped to reduce the spread.
Andres Iniesta – The Unexpected Hero is available on 23 April for free on Rakuten TV
‘We’re just taking all the precautionary measures and going out as little as possible. The little ones (he has four young children) have been doing their school classes online. They know there is a virus about that is a bit dangerous. And we make sure they participate in all the day-to-day precautionary measures that we have to take.
‘We are all asking the same questions: When can we leave our homes? When can we go back to giving each other a hug without any problems?
‘In terms of sport the key moment here was the Olympics. They were trying to put all the measures in place, so that it could go ahead and once it was postponed the league decided to stop until May 9. That’s when we return, in theory.’
There seems to be doubt creeping into his original calm optimism and he adds: ‘I don’t want to be dramatic but you can see that it’s going to be really difficult for this to be finished. Hopefully there will be a turnaround and everything changes radically for the better.’
Iniesta and his wife, Anna Ortiz, entertain themselves during coronavirus lockdown in Japan
Of the limbo the players find themselves in because of the uncertainty that remains over when things will resume, he says: ‘The situation is very strange. In terms of preparation and motivation and the whole process of stepping up your training because you know the games are fast approaching, that right now is impossible.
‘Every time I see a photograph of a game or a full stadium, I desperately feel that desire to be playing again. That’s what we are all hoping for.’
Can he imagine how it feels for a Liverpool player on the verge of winning the title? ‘It must be very difficult,’ he says. ‘But it will also be very difficult for a second division team who are on the verge of being promoted.’
Iniesta has watched less European football this season since his move to Japan. ‘I have seen a lot more Japanese football because I’m here and that’s where my focus is,’ he says. ‘And watching European football live, is also very difficult because of the time zone differences. I keep a lookout for the results, the highlights and the news.’
Iniesta is desperate to start playing again and has no plans to hang up his boots just yet
The midfielder is thrown into the air by his team-mates after playing his final game for the club
It’s perhaps not easy to look back at a football environment he might still be gracing were it not for Barcelona’s failure to carve out a role for him.
There’s a moment in the film when he bemoans the fact that he and the club did not talk about things in time in his final season but he refuses to apportion blame.
‘I say it very clearly [in the film]. It’s like a relationship and in a relationship if you have a problem with your wife or with a friend and you don’t talk, you don’t talk, and then the moment comes that when you do talk, things have already deteriorated or one person thinks one thing, another [thinks] another.
‘I don’t think it’s blame, because everyone sees things in a different way and all I am doing is giving my opinion and for sure on the other side there is another opinion.’
Now that Quique Setien is the coach and Barcelona are trying to play a style more in-keeping with the way they played when Iniesta dominated midfield for Pep Guardiola, you could see him still offering something. The cast of team-mates that contribute to the film certainly seem to miss him.
Ivan Rakitic says he believes the club should name the ‘La Masia’ building that used to be home to all the youth team players after Iniesta. Former team-mate Samuel Eto’o has another idea: he wants to see Iniesta coach Barcelona one day.
Will that come to pass? Is that what he means by getting the gang back together?
‘Right now, I just want to keep kicking a ball for as long as I can, because that’s what makes me happy,’ he says. ‘And when that does end, I have always said that I would love to go back to Barca. It all depends on how it would happen?
Iniesta lifts the Champions League trophy with Messi after victory over Man United in 2009
The veteran midfielder plays a pass during a game for Vissel Kobe before the shutdown
If Xavi called him to coach alongside him would he accept? ‘As a formula it’s very good!’ he says, but there are lots of stars that would need to align first.
‘Xavi is four years ahead of me. I don’t know where he will be when I stop playing. I don’t know if he will be there. Let’s see. But I don’t know if I will coach or not.
‘We will have to wait and see what happens. But without doubt, the likes of Victor, Xavi, Puyol, those type of people have to go back to the club. It wouldn’t make sense for things to end up any other way.’
First he has a playing career to finish. ‘This period of time when we are not able to play, is going to energise me to keep going even longer,’ he says. I have a contract until next year but I am looking at things at the end of every season and I feel good. I’m motivated and I want to keep playing.’
He is welcoming visitors too. Sportsmail columnist Peter Crouch might have been one of the first were it not for the current global situation.
Crouch was teased last year when in his BBC podcast he spoke about the time Iniesta had asked him for a photograph while the two coincided on holiday in Italy in 2011.
Iniesta poses with Sportsmail columnist Peter Crouch (R) during a holiday in Italy back in 2011
Belief was suspended until he produced the picture. ‘I’m aware of this,’ says Iniesta. ‘I just don’t remember if it was me who asked for the photo or if it was him. But if it was me asking him then that wouldn’t surprise me. If he said it was like that then I’m sure it was. If he wants to come, I’ll be here!’
Crouch shouldn’t wait too long, once circumstances allow. Not unless he wants to make the shorter journey to see Iniesta back in Barcelona.
‘That’s still some way off,’ he says of his return. ‘But for everything that happened to me at the club and for all the feelings I have for it I would love to go back and contribute some more.’
Andres Iniesta – The Unexpected Hero is available on 23 April for free on Rakuten TV
Andres Iniesta on returning to Barcelona, lockdown in Japan and getting a photo with Peter Crouch - Daily Mail
0 Comments: