Spain and Barcelona great Iniesta announces retirement after 22-year career

Andrés Iniesta, who scored Spain's World Cup-winning goal in 2010 and was one of the key players who made Barcelona's tiki-taka thrive for so long, announced his retirement from soccer on Tuesday.

The 40-year-old Iniesta ended a 22-year career that also included two European Championship titles and four Champions League trophies.

“I never expected that this day would come, I never imagined it,” an emotional Iniesta said in a ceremony near the Barcelona port. "But all the tears from the last few days are tears of emotion, or pride, they are not tears of sadness. They are tears of this kid who had the dream of being a soccer player and who succeeded after a lot of hard work, effort and sacrifice.”

Since leaving Barcelona in 2018, he had been playing with Vissel Kobe in Japan, and for the last year with club Emirates in the UAE Pro League.

Iniesta made his first-team debut with Barcelona in 2002, and appeared 674 times.

“It was something unique to be with the club of your life, to represent Barça, its fans and to wear that jersey," he said. “It's something I'll always have fond memories of.”

Known for his unique ball control and superb playmaking ability, Iniesta helped anchor a Barcelona midfield that also included Xavi Hernández and Sergio Busquets — in addition to Lionel Messi in attack — in a squad that thrived for many years with an enchanting and effective ball-possession style that became known as the tiki-taka.

“Iniesta, your football will live on forever,” said Barcelona, which streamed the retirement ceremony live.

Iniesta won nine Spanish leagues with the Catalan club, as well as six Copa del Reys.

“One of the most magical teammates, and one of those I enjoyed playing with the most,” Messi said of Iniesta on Instagram. “The ball is going to miss you, and so will all of us. I wish you the best always, you’re a phenomenon.”

Barcelona rival Real Madrid expressed its “recognition, admiration and affection for one of the biggest legends of Spanish and world football.”

“Andrés Iniesta has enriched the sport through his football and his values, in addition to the numerous trophies he has won during his career,” Madrid said. “His iconic goal in the 2010 World Cup final in South Africa will forever remain in the memory of every Spanish fan.”

Iniesta helped Spain dominate world soccer by sweeping up the 2008 and 2012 Euros and the 2010 World Cup, where he scored the extra-time winner in the final against the Netherlands with a right-footed shot from inside the area.

Iniesta said he will “not be too far” from soccer, and he is starting to prepare to be a coach at some point.

Iniesta was accompanied by his family in Barcelona. Also in attendance were Barcelona officials and members of the current squad including coach Hansi Flick. Videos of people talking about Iniesta, and with highlights of his career, were shown. Among those who talked about Iniesta were coaches Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Vicente del Bosque and Louis van Gaal, who gave the midfielder his club debut.

“I was shaking all over those first few days," Iniesta said. "I didn’t know what to do with myself. So many days eyeing the Camp Nou from La Masia (youth academy) and to finally get the chance to be there with all those players was spectacular.”

Iniesta said “pride” summed up his feelings as he was retiring.

“Pride of having fought and worked until the last day that I played," he said. "The rest is history: Titles, defeats, bad times that we all have to go through. ... Pride and never giving up is what makes me very happy today. The only sad part is that I wished I would have played until I was 90.”

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FILE - Barcelona's Andres Iniesta, right, scores against RCD Mallorca goalkeeper Antoni Prats during their Spanish League soccer match at Son Moix Stadium in the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain, on Nov. 19, 2006. Andres Iniesta who scored Spain's World Cup-winning goal in 2010 and was one of the key players who made Barcelona's tiki-taka thrive for so long, announced his retirement from soccer on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - Vissel Kobe midfielder Andres Iniesta waves towards audience members at the end of a farewell ceremony to commemorate his leaving the club, after his last match with the club against Consadole Sapporo in Kobe, Japan, Saturday, July 1, 2023. Andres Iniesta who scored Spain's World Cup-winning goal in 2010 and was one of the key players who made Barcelona's tiki-taka thrive for so long, announced his retirement from soccer on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

FILE - Barcelona's Andres Iniesta reacts during a news conference announcing he is leaving the club, in Barcelona, Spain, on April. 27, 2018. Andres Iniesta who scored Spain's World Cup-winning goal in 2010 and was one of the key players who made Barcelona's tiki-taka thrive for so long, announced his retirement from soccer on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

FILE - Barcelona's Andres Iniesta, right, and Lionel Messi hold the trophy at the end of the Champions League final soccer match between Manchester United and Barcelona in Rome, on May 27, 2009. Andres Iniesta who scored Spain's World Cup-winning goal in 2010 and was one of the key players who made Barcelona's tiki-taka thrive for so long, announced his retirement from soccer on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

FILE - Spain's Andres Iniesta holds up the World Cup trophy after the World Cup final soccer match between the Netherlands and Spain at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, July 11, 2010. Andres Iniesta who scored Spain's World Cup-winning goal in 2010 and was one of the key players who made Barcelona's tiki-taka thrive for so long, announced his retirement from soccer on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - Spain's Andres Iniesta celebrates after scoring the only goal in the World Cup final soccer match against the Netherlands at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, July 11, 2010 file photo. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people injured by shattered glass, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who have been launching missiles in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Another 14 people sustained minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before dawn Saturday, the military said.

The Houthis issued a statement on Telegram saying they had aimed a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target, which they did not identify.

“A flash of light, a blow and we fell to the ground. Big mess, broken glasses all over the place,” said Bar Katz, a resident of a damaged building.

The attack came after Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, and port city of Hodeida killed at least nine people Thursday. The Israeli strikes were in response to a Houthi long-range missile that hit an Israeli school building. The Houthis also claimed a drone strike targeting an unspecified military target in central Israel on Thursday.

Israel's military says the Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Houthis have also attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and say they won’t stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Israeli strikes Thursday caused “considerable damage” to the Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports that will lead to the "immediate and significant reduction in port capacity,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The Hodeida port has been key for food shipments into Yemen in its decade-long civil war.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said both sides’ attacks risk further escalation in the region.

Mourners in Gaza held funerals for 19 people — 12 of them children — killed in Israeli strikes on Friday and overnight.

One strike hit a residential building in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least seven Palestinians, including five children and one woman, and injuring 16 others, health officials said.

In Gaza City, a strike on a house killed 12 people, including seven children and two women, according to Al-Ahli Hospital where the bodies were taken.

One man cradled a tiny shroud-wrapped body as mourners gathered at the hospital in Gaza City. Women comforted each other as they wept.

Overall, Gaza's Health Ministry said 21 people had been killed over the past 24 hours.

More than 45,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, when a Hamas attack in Israel killed about 1,200 people and triggered the 14-month war. The health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said more than half of fatalities are women and children.

Israel faces heavy international criticism over the unprecedented levels of civilian deaths in Gaza. It says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.

Gaza's Health Ministry issued an urgent appeal for medical and food supplies to be delivered to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in largely isolated northern Gaza, while the hospital director described conditions as dire, as Israel's military presses its latest offensive.

The ministry reported continuous gunfire and Israeli shelling near the hospital, saying “shells have struck the third floor and the hospital’s entrances, creating a state of panic.”

Hospital director Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh said the facility faced “severe shortages” and asserted that requests for essential medical supplies and ways to maintain oxygen, water and electricity systems "have largely gone unmet.”

He said 72 wounded people were being treated at the hospital.

“Food is very scarce, and we cannot provide meals for the wounded," Safiyeh added. “We are urgently calling on anyone who can provide supplies to help us.”

Aid groups have said Israeli military operations and armed gangs have hindered their ability to distribute aid.

The Israeli military organization dealing with humanitarian affairs for Gaza said Saturday it had led an operation delivering thousands of food packages, flour and water to the Beit Hanoun area in the north. It said trucks with the U.N. World Food Program transported them to distribution centers in the area Friday.

Iran on Saturday said unknown gunmen had killed a local staffer of the Iranian embassy in Syria, the official IRNA news agency said.

Its report quoted foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying “terrorists” opened fire on Davood Bitaraf’s car last Sunday. It did not say what he did with the embassy.

Baghaei said Iran considers Syria’s interim government responsible for finding and prosecuting those behind the killing. Iran had been a key ally of recently ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

Shurafa reported from Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat refugee camp are prepared for the funeral prayer outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Men pray over the bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat refugee camp during a funeral prayer outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat arrive at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital before their funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An Israeli soldier observes the site where the missile launched from Yemen landed Jaffa district, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)