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| Iniesta in tears as he announces his departure from the club |
Barcelona Legend Andres Iniesta held a press conference to announce his departure from FC Barcelona, a club which he joined 22 years ago.
The 33-year old Spanish midfielder joined Barcelona's La Masia Football Youth Academy 22 years ago when he was just a 12-years old. He then went to represent the club for 16 seasons winning a total 31 titles. The count will rise to 32, if Barcelona manage to win the La Liga title at the end of the season. He has also won two Euro Cups and a World Cup during his career as a Spanish International. The Football legend is one of Barcelona's most decorated players, having made 669 appearances for the club so far. He has been known for his beautiful style of play, extraordinary sense of passing the ball and his ability for link-up play. All of these abilities earned him the nickname of El Ilusionista.
The footballer has been instrumental in all of Barcelona's successful campaigns over the past 16 years. He formed a successful partnership with Xavi at the heart of Barcelona's midfield during Pep Guardiola's Tiki-Taka style at the club. The success of that particular strategy is attributed to Iniesta's one-touch passing skills and his vision to find players deep inside the opposition half. 
Iniesta was also one of those rare football players who was loved by both Barcelona and Real Madrid fans despite their rivalry. He had produced many moments of brilliance during those many El-Classico clashes that the supporters of both the clubs enjoy. Lionel Messi is arguably Barcelona's all-time greatest player, having won 5 Ballon d'Or trophies at the club. But Messi has more than once stated that all those could not have been won by him without Iniesta's selfless game-play that enabled him to score all those goals.
A thunderous applause rang out in Madrid as Iniesta scored a goal against Sevilla during the Spanish Cup finals. Many in the stands and those watching the game on TV had a premonition that this may be the last season he would play for Barcelona. The Marca labeled him "The Last Emperor" on the next days' issue. Barcelona's fitness coach, Paco Seirulo, had described Iniesta's game as a relationship between space and time. While Pep Guardiola, after watching Iniesta play for the first time, had stated that he would retire all of Barcelona's midfield line-up.
Iniesta influenced the game of football so much that opposition teams would heavily mark him to stop Barcelona's passing network. It was as if there was a target painted on his back every time he took the field for Barcelona. He has been subjected to the most brutal tackles by opposition defenders who zero on him but fail to stop him.
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| It seemed as if Iniesta had a target painted on his back every time he played. |
Iniesta love for Barcelona cannot be fathomed. During the press conference, he was asked if he planned to join any football clubs in England after his departure from Barcelona. He replied, "I will never play against Barcelona, so I will never play in Europe ".
His team-mates, old and new, paid him tributes on social media. Many wished him success for his future plans, while others expressed their pride for having played with and against him. There are still 5 more matches left for the season to end and most football fans will definitely cherish these matches which also include an El-Classico clash against Real Madrid.
The Maestro will definitely be missed by not just Barcelona fans but all fans of Football who rejoiced every time he produced a moment of brilliance that seemed almost out-of-the-world.
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| A Phenomenon as described by Xavi |
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