Barcelona icon Andres Iniesta announced last week that he would leave the club at the end of the season in an emotional press conference that many of his teammates attended.
Having helped the Catalan giants to the La Liga title this past weekend, the 33-year-old will leave the Nou Camp having won 35 trophies in his career at club and international level in a glittering spell.
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While he has yet to announce his next move, he has now confirmed that he will move on this summer, and as seen in the image and video below, several of his Barcelona teammates attended the press conference as he struggled to hold back the tears when making his announcement.
Iniesta here, rest of the squad watching but no sign of Messi or Suárez pic.twitter.com/0YfuSeEIWw
— Rik Sharma (@riksharma_) April 27, 2018
? Andrés Iniesta: “This is my last season here” Your legacy is infinite. #infinit8Iniesta pic.twitter.com/2ZBQxjyVFv
— FC Barcelona ?? (@FCBarcelona) April 27, 2018
The absences of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez did raise question marks, although given the success and time that the players have spent with each other, it wasn’t assumed that it was something negative keeping them away.
Spanish football expert and Sky Sports pundit Guillem Balague has now explained why Messi wasn’t there, and particularly given that there are still a few weeks until Iniesta officially leaves and plays his last game for Barcelona, there will undoubtedly be plenty of opportunities for Messi to partake in celebrations to mark the end of his time at the club.
As for last week, he was busy with family commitments, as explained in the tweets below, and so it rules out any speculation or rumours that the Argentine international chose not to be there which ultimately would have been quite bizarre given what Iniesta has done for the club.
…travel around, the World Cup, and also for any trip that family might want to take in the next few weeks.
The next possible appointment offered to him was for a date that he would not have been able to attend.
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) April 30, 2018
Leo sent him an emotional message by Instagram that evening on the same day that Andrés said his goodbyes.https://t.co/B7uxKuqH4N
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) April 30, 2018