Barcelona Legend Andres Iniesta Revealed Why He Briefly Supported Real Madrid as a Youngster

• Andres Iniesta played over 670 games for Barcelona and won numerous trophies with the side
• Barca and Real Madrid are bitter rivals and it is uncommon for Spaniards to have supported both
• Iniesta joined Barcelona when he was 12 but didn't always like the team, especially when he was 7

Andres Iniesta is a legend of Barcelona but he wasn’t always a supporter of the team.

In fact, at one stage he supported their bitter arch-rivals, Real Madrid.

As noted by Barca Blaugranes, Iniesta supported Los Blancos briefly as a child because he was upset with La Blaugrana.

Why was Iniesta upset?

Iniesta grew up in the Spanish province of Albacete and was part of Albacete Balompié’s youth set-up before he joined Barcelona.

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As part of the team, he was a proud supporter of Albacete but also supported Barcelona. That changed when the Catalans thrashed his side in La Liga, leading him to dislike the team for a bit.

“It was of those things that you can have as a child. One day Barca scored seven goals against Albacete, and I got angry at Barca. There was some time where I was a bit confused with my own mind,” he said.

The game in question took place in 1992 in La Liga when Iniesta was only seven. Barcelona won the match 7-1 and the midfielder started telling people that he supported Madrid.

Iniesta is a Barcelona legend

Five years later, Iniesta joined Barcelona and the rest is history.

He would go on to play 674 games for the Spanish side and scored 57 goals and notched up 137 assists, according to Transfermarkt.

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Iniesta won four UEFA Champions League trophies, nine La Liga titles and won the Spanish Cup six times with Barcelona.

Iniesta's struggles with depression

Sports Brief also reported that Barcelona icon, Iniesta wants everyone to realise that footballers are humans too.

The ex-Spanish international has opened up on how stars struggle despite making mega money from the sport.

Iniesta spoke about his depression struggles and revealed he had been in therapy over mental health issues.