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)

Hurricane Milton is weakening slightly but remains a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on Tampa and St. Petersburg, engulfing the populous region with towering storm surges and turning debris from Helene’s devastation 12 days ago into projectiles.

Follow AP’s coverage of tropical weather at https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes.

Here’s the latest:

It’s easily the worst vacation John Fedor and his wife Laura have ever been on. After losing their phone on a Caribbean cruise, they missed their flight home to Philadelphia – and then missed the flight they rebooked Tuesday morning, after the bus they took to the Tampa airport was delayed.

“It’s just been utter hell,” Fedor said.

With the city’s airport closing its doors at 9 am on Tuesday, the Fedors are among those who are now stuck in this city ahead of a major hurricane the likes of which the Tampa Bay region hasn’t seen in a century.

“We looked into driving home, taking the train home,” he said, but nothing worked out.

“We don’t really have a whole lot of options … we’re kind of like stranded here.”

President Joe Biden is postponing a planned trip to Germany and Angola to remain at the White House to monitor Hurricane Milton, which is bearing down on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the White House announced Tuesday morning.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the change was necessary “given the projected trajectory and strength” of the storm.

It wasn’t clear when the trip might be rescheduled. Biden had promised to go to Africa during his term in office, which ends in January.

Explosively intensifying Hurricane Milton is the latest freaky system to come out of what veteran hurricane scientists call the weirdest storm season of their lives.

Before this Atlantic hurricane season started, forecasters said everything lined up to be a monster busy year, and it began that way when Beryl was the earliest storm to reach Category 5 on record. Then, nothing. From Aug. 20 — the traditional start of peak hurricane season — to Sept. 23 it was record quiet, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Then five hurricanes popped up between Sept. 26 and Oct. 6, more than double the old record of two. On Sunday and Monday, there were three hurricanes in October at the same time — something that never happened before — Klotzbach said. In just 46.5 hours, Hurricane Milton went from just forming as a tropical storm with 40 mph winds to a top-of-the-charts Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds and then it got even stronger.

“I was looking as far back as the Atlantic records go and there’s not really any good analogs for this season, just how neurotic it’s been,” Klotzbach said. “You know, obviously the season ain’t over yet. We’ll see what pops up after Milton.”

▶ Read more about this unusual hurricane season.

“We will let you know — as soon as possible — about school reopening after Hurricane Milton has passed. Our facilities team will need time to safely conduct countywide assessments on all of our sites to ensure our traditional public schools and offices are safe to welcome back students, teachers, and staff members,” the district said in a Facebook post.

The county was also urging residents in evacuation zones to seek shelter. The county is setting up evacuation centers, but those should be viewed as “last resort,” county government said in a statement.

And Criswell pleaded with residents to listen to their local officials for guidance on what to do as the storm bears down.

“This is an extremely dangerous hurricane,” Criswell said Tuesday morning. “I need people to listen to their local officials to get out of harm’s way… People don’t need to move far. They just need to move inland.”

The hurricane remained offshore early Tuesday. Power lines, light poles and trees were knocked down near the coast, and some small thatched-roof structures were destroyed, according to Yucatan Gov. Joaquín Díaz, but he did not report any deaths or injuries.

While Floridians are no strangers to storms, Tampa hasn’t been in the direct path of a major hurricane in over a century.

In that lapse, the area has exploded in growth. Tens of thousands of Americans moved to the area during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many choosing to settle along barrier islands like Clearwater and St. Petersburg overlooking the normally placid, emerald Gulf waters. More than 51,000 people moved to the area between 2022 and 2023, making it the fifth-largest-growing U.S. metropolitan area, according to U.S. Census data.

Longer term residents, after having experienced numerous false alarms and near misses like Irma in 2017, may be similarly unprepared for a direct hit. A local legend has it that blessings from Native Americans who once called the region home and used to build mounds to keep out invaders have largely protected the area from major storms for centuries.

MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel said a hurricane in Tampa is the “black swan” worst-case scenario that experts have worried about for years.

Hurricanes are humanity’s reminder of the uncontrollable, chaotic power of Earth’s weather.

Milton’s powerful push toward Florida just days after Helene devastated large parts of the Southeast likely has some in the region wondering if they are being targeted. In some corners of the internet, Helene has already sparked conspiracy theories and disinformation suggesting the government somehow aimed the hurricane at Republican voters.

Besides discounting common sense, such theories disregard weather history that shows the hurricanes are hitting many of the same areas they have for centuries. They also presume an ability for humans to quickly reshape the weather far beyond relatively puny efforts such as cloud seeding.

“If meteorologists could stop hurricanes, we would stop hurricanes,” Kristen Corbosiero, a professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University at Albany, said. “If we could control the weather, we would not want the kind of death and destruction that’s happened.”

▶ Read more about the power of hurricanes.

The entire Gulf Coast of Florida is especially vulnerable to storm surge.

Hurricane Helene came ashore some 150 miles (240 kilometers) away from Tampa in the Florida Panhandle and still managed to cause drowning deaths in the Tampa area due to surges of around 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.5 meters) above normal tide levels.

Forecasters warned of a possible 8- to 12-foot storm surge (2.4 to 3.6 meters) in Tampa Bay. That’s the highest ever predicted for the location and nearly double the levels reached two weeks ago during Helene, hurricane center spokesperson Maria Torres said.

The storm could also bring widespread flooding. Five to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) of rain was forecast for mainland Florida and the Keys, with as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) expected in some places.

“There is no fuel shortage. Fuel continues to arrive in the state of Florida” despite long lines at gas stations, DeSantis said at a Tuesday morning news briefing. He said officials are working with fuel companies to continue bringing in gasoline.

“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” DeSantis said. “You can evacuate tens of miles; you do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away. You do have options.”

DeSantis said the state has helped evacuate more than 200 health care facilities in Milton’s path and that 36 county-run shelters are open.

Owners try to secure their boat at the Davis Islands Yacht Clubs ahead a possible landfall by Hurricane Milton, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Jay McCoy puts up plywood in preparation for Hurricane Milton on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

A shrimping boat makes her way back to port as hurricane flags fly at the Davis Islands Yacht Club, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)