Biography

Andrés Iniesta is a Barcelona player since 2002. Central midfielder and Spanish international since 2006, Andres Iniesta is one of the best players that Spain has produced during recent times.

A pure product of “La Masia”, the training center of FC Barcelona, Andres Iniesta joined the club’s B team during the 2000/2001 season. He established himself as the figurehead of the Catalan club’s reserve team and has gradually come up the rank before becoming a key player for the first team.

His introduction in the first team, takes place in 2002 under the command of Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal. Andres Iniesta returns during a Champions League match against Club Brugge.

The following season, as Rijkaard took over, he will get more playing opportunities. Andres Iniesta is involved in 37 games half of which will be substitions.

Very technical, Andres Iniesta knows very well how to position himself on the field. He possesses a good passing ability and is a very versatile player. This can indeed be very beneficial when you know the competition that exists in the major European clubs.

However, the true position of Andres Iniesta is attacking midfielder where he really blossomed and makes use of his exceptional vision of the game. During the 2005-2006 season he will take advantage of the injury to Xavi to make a name for himself and win praise from his manager Frank Rijkaard.

He will continue to develop during the 2006-2007 season and become a complete midfielder. He will play as a left-winger in a Champions League game where he will score twice and in the same year he will play against Liverpool. Despite all these changes in position this will be the highest scoring season for Iniesta so far.

In 2008 he will be chosen as being one of the captains of Barcelona and will continue to perform at a high level. This will bring not only praises from the Barcelona supporters but also from opposition fans.

In the 2009-2010 season he will be nominated for the Ballon D’Or and also for the World Player of the Year. However his season will be disrupted by a host of injuries that will prevent him from playing at his best level.

On the International scene Iniesta has also enjoyed a fair deal of success. He was called up to represent Spain at the 2006 World Cup but will eventually win his first cap for Spain when he played against Russia in a friendly match. His first goal will be almost a year later in a friendly match against England.

He was part of the team that won the Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. Great passer of the game he has helped Spain develop their now famous one-touch football that can tear opposition apart. At only 26 years old there is surely more trophy that will be won by this great footballer.