Iniesta: Anna made me suffer, she didn't make it easy

Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2018 by Marca.com

Few thought the marriage between Andres Iniesta and Barcelona would ever come to an end, yet with the midfielder now almost halfway into his first season with Vissel Kobe in Japan, he's taken a step back and recounted just how his wife, Anna, didn't make things easy for him in the beginning.

The pair met at a restaurant 11 years ago, however it isn't the traditional, at least in the modern sense, story of a footballer attracting a partner with relative ease.

"I went with a friend and by chance she was working as a waitress at the restaurant," he confirmed in an interview with Cuatro Calleja Calleja.

"As soon as I saw her, I had an intense crush, I fell in love, but she made me suffer and didn't make it easy.

"It was exhausting work, I had to use certain tricks."

A common misconception for modern footballers is that they are to be completely content in life merely because of their sporting successes and the fiscal rewards which usually come along with them, yet Iniesta's story is one which doesn't conform to that, even if his career is one of the most storied.

"It's important not to live outside reality, the privileges don't make it so you're living in another world," he admitted."I went through a very sketchy stage between 2009 and 2010 before the World Cup, I don't know what it was but I went into a depression that left me very touched.

"I had psychological help, having everything doesn't make you happy, we had just won the treble... the World Cup gave me life."

Gerard Pique has long been recognised as perhaps the most politically aware and active member of Barcelona's squad, however Iniesta believes there is a time and a place to air such personal views.

"You can have your opinion and not make it public or choose to say it," he intimated.

"I have my own opinion but I don't believe it matters, being an athlete.

"I'm proud of where I am and proud of where I'm from, I don't have any problems."