This is how Miguel Simón put him and it is perhaps one of the most fair, brilliant and accurate nicknames with any player. It is not necessary to give many explanations when seeing it in the field to understand why the best rapporteur that I know decided to baptize it like that. You always know what to do, when and where. A modern interior of the two areas, with his taste for having the ball much greater than his ability to remove it, as he demonstrated in great detail in Barcelona and in the Spanish team.
Andrés Iniesta turned 37 and incidentally announced his renewal until 2023 with the Japanese Vissel Kobe, a team that will enjoy it perhaps until the last day of his beautiful career. I wish he never retired, that he stayed on the court for much longer, that he was forbidden to leave, but we know that, as that classic salsa song affirms, everything has its end. The only good thing about his retirement is going to be the farewell party with his old friends that will surely water the eyes of the few romantics that remain. A game that should have the stars of the Pep-team culé and the red champion of the Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup, making the golden manchego the street of honor who will rent all possible balconies.
But let us travel to the past before we worry about what is to come. Let’s go back to when little number five from Albacete won a place at La Masía. Let’s go back to the tournament that opens the doors of the future. It was in Brunete when, without even being the figure of the contest with his club that arrived due to the vacancies left by Sevilla and Celta, he caught the attention of Albert Benaiges, Barça representative who alerted Germán Vaya and professor Oriol Tort, who It finally opened the doors to the son of the Fuentealbilla bricklayer, José Antonio, who approved that he take the key step in his life to become a legend.
His admission was traumatic, because at just 12 years old he had to leave his family and friends to live in a house that, although it was going to train him for the next five years and lead him to success, terrified him from his first night, which he remembers especially because of how much he cried. The cruel line that he had to cross from the sacrifice of youth, to fulfill his dreams according to his talent. Since he was a little boy of 8 he had been showing in each game that he was different and the Iniestas were clear about it, but what they did not know was how difficult it would be to separate from their son. What came later is already a beautiful story, their titles, their decisive goals like the one in the 2009 Champions semi-final against Chelsea or the one in the final against the Dutch in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but most importantly for me, and I insist on the assertiveness of Miguelito’s nickname, his unique ability to understand everything on the field, to know the right moment for a pause, for a pass, for a shot, for the feint, even to appear or not. His magic is now eternal and he was owed at least one Ballon d’Or.
