File photo dated December 7, 2020 of Andrés Iniesta during an Asian Champions League match with Vissel Kobe EFE/EPA/NOUSHAD THEKKAYIL
Tokyo, Oct 9 (EFE).- The president of Vissel Kobe, Yuki Chifu, thanked Andrés Iniesta for his contribution to Japanese football and highlighted his role as a model both “on and off” the field of play, after the Spaniard announced his withdrawal.
“For five years he contributed a lot not only to the club, but to Japanese football,” Chifu recalled in a statement released this Wednesday where he reviewed the titles won by the club from 2018 to 2023, seasons in which the Spanish footballer played in the archipelago.
FOR ME INIESTA’S PERFORMANCES HAVE BEEN A GREAT INSPIRATION
«For me, personally, Iniesta’s performances have been a great inspiration. His plays are still fresh in my memory,” declared the president, adding that his help, as a “world-class player,” was able to attract new fans to the Japanese league.
The head of the club highlighted his “humble” personality, despite being “one of the best players in the world”, and his “respect” for teammates and fans in equal measure. In addition, he felt “proud” for the love that the player confessed for the city and the country.
In May of last year, the Spanish footballer announced his departure from Vissel Kobe and promised to maintain his relationship with the club, a fact that Chifu remembers and hopes that they can continue “walking together” on new paths.
INIESTA PLAYED 114 GAMES IN THE JAPANESE LEAGUE
Iniesta played 114 games in the Japanese league, where he scored 21 goals and assisted on 22 occasions, in addition to winning five titles at the club: two Asian championships, a Japanese league championship, an Emperor’s Cup and a Japanese Super Cup.
The former international midfielder, scorer of the goal that gave Spain the world title in 2010, announced his retirement the day before at an event held at the old IMAX cinema in Barcelona’s Port Vell.
«I suppose you will allow me to get excited today. But they are tears of emotion, of pride, not of sadness. They are the tears of that boy from Fuentealbilla who had the dream of being a professional soccer player. And I achieved it, with a lot of work and a lot of effort… of never giving up, essential values in my life. “I feel very proud of this path, with all the people who have accompanied me,” he stated with a broken voice at the beginning of the event.
For more than an hour, Iniesta reviewed with those present an extensive career that has taken him to play until he was 40 years old and that begins with that trip from Fuentealbilla to Barcelona when he was 12.
He hangs up his boots with 39 titles and without ever having won the Ballon d’Or, despite having marked an era as one of the best midfielders in history, a distinction that came close in 2010, when he took the podium with Xavi and Messi, his teammates in the Barcelona team.
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