The former Barcelona midfielder, now at Vissel Kobe in Japan, eagerly awaits the resumption of the season after the coronavirus crisis and says he has no plans to slip quietly into retirement
“Every time I see a photo of a game or a full stadium, I feel desperate to play football again,” Andrés Iniesta says after 54 days without. For his club Vissel Kobe, Emperor’s Cup winners in January, the new J-League season started on 21 February and stopped again four days later due to the coronavirus crisis. It was due to restart on 15 March, then 29 March, and then 6 May. Now they hope it might be on 9 May. But who knows? And that is in a country seen as a model of pandemic management, one where, Iniesta says thankfully, “the situation appears to be under control”.
It is just before dinner time, another evening on lockdown in his family flat, high above the city and about 6,500 miles from home in Spain. “There will,” he adds, “be a before and after.” Quite what that after looks like is a question that lingers, for football and for him.
Written by Sid Lowe
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/17/andres-iniesta-vissel-kobe-japan-coronavirus under the title “
“. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
