Charlie Christie: Fans creating something special at Aberdeen as one of football’s all-time greats Andres Iniesta announces retirement
Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin could not have hoped for a better start to his managerial career in Scotland after last Sunday’s dramatic late winner against struggling Hearts gave him his seventh straight league win, keeping the Dons level on maximum points with title favourites Celtic.
The Pittodrie attendance of over 19,000 and the atmosphere it created was mentioned post-match by Hearts’ caretaker coach Liam Fox as being a huge factor in the contest as it drove Thelin’s side to win a game that Hearts had put so much into and there is no doubt that the Dons support are loving what they are witnessing so far.
After this weekend’s international break, Thelin takes his side to Parkhead in what will be his side’s stiffest test to date, and one which will be a real yardstick of how far they have come.
There is no more challenging fixture in Scottish league football, but Thelin’s men go in full of confidence and he certainly has the players who can test Celtic if they are at their best.
Meanwhile in world football one of my favourite players announced his retirement from the game this week.
Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta was one of the most technically gifted players of the modern era who played an incredible 131 times for his country.
He was instrumental in their first ever World Cup triumph in 2010, scoring the only goal in the final against Holland and receiving the man of the match award for his display.
He also won the European Championship twice in 2008 and 2012 during that golden era for Spanish football and an abundance of domestic league, cup and Champions League medals with Barcelona.
Iniesta joined the world famous ‘La Masia’ youth training centre at the Catalan giants after being seen playing futsal as a 12-year-old and made his debut for the club aged 18.
He began as a defensive midfielder but developed into a more attacking minded player as his career progressed.
At just 5 foot 7 inches he had incredible game awareness which, allied to an exquisite first touch and superb technical ability made him look unflustered even under the most intense pressure.
His former manager at Barcelona Pep Guardiola praised him for his ‘mastery of the relationship between space and time’ and anyone who saw Iniesta play can readily comprehend what the current Manchester City boss was saying.
Lionel Messi, the best player to have ever graced the game also had his say on his former team-mate with the wonderful quote ‘The ball is going to miss you, and so will all of us. You’re a phenomenon’.
