As Andres Iniesta celebrates his 38th birthday, the football world is drawing closer to a future without one of its all-time greats.
The midfielder won more than 20 trophies with Barcelona, including four Champions League titles, and scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final. Even now, in the twilight of his career, he has continued to thrive in Japan for Vissel Kobe and helped the Japanese side reach this season's AFC Champions League.
It's no surprise, then, to to see teammates sing his praises throughout a career with plenty of highs. Here, Mirror Football looks at seven examples of colleagues, coaches, and even opponents which paint a picture of how special a player Iniesta has been.
Xavi
Where else to begin other than with the man who partnered Iniesta for some of his best moments. Xavi and Iniesta complemented each other brilliantly both for Spain and for Barcelona, and the current Barca boss paid tribute to the star when he left Catalonia for Japan in 2018.
"Andres is, for me, the most talented player in the history of Spanish football that I’ve seen," he said, explaining "You watched him play and it was a show".
"He’s spectacularly talented," Xavi added.. "I don’t know how, but Andres always showed up at just the right moment.
"We didn’t need to talk on the pitch, he didn’t tell me where he was with words, I just knew. We understood each other after playing together for a more than a decade, it wasn’t necessary to communicate."
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Pep Guardiola
Guardiola was in the dugout for Barcelona's Champions League wins in 2009 and 2011, when Xavi, Iniesta and others helped them past a strong Manchester United team not once but twice. The Catalan boss is one of the best at what he does, but even he admitted in 2018 that Iniesta had taught him a lot.
"I learned a lot just from being around him, seeing him train and watching how easily he did things and what was most impressive was how natural he was," Guardiola said. He did things with perfection too and simply had a natural gift that is incomparable."
The manager has also credited Iniesta with helping him through a tough early spell in charge at Camp Nou. Defeat at Numancia in his first La Liga game wasn't the best of starts for Guardiola, but Iniesta - as the manager recalls - came into the dressing room after the loss and convinced him not to change anything.
Iniesta could see the vision, even then. And more than a decade on, everyone can see it.
Lionel Messi
If Lionel Messi sings your praises, you know you're on the right track. And Messi spent long enough playing in front of Iniesta to give the fairest of assessments.
" I always picture him with the ball at his feet," the Barcelona legend said in the 2016 book 'The Artist: Being Iniesta' (as reported by Sky Sports at the time). " That's the way I have got used to seeing him.
"He does everything well, with simplicity. At times, it may look like he's not doing anything, but in fact he's doing it all.
"Everything is different with Andres. The hardest thing to do in football is to make it look like everything is easy, effortless, and that's Andres."
Paco Seirulo
The same book features a depiction of Iniesta from Paco Seirulo, Barcelona's fitness coach for a 20-year period. Those 20 years included Guardiola's entire tenure as manager, and it was he who relayed his colleague's words, as follows:
“Andrés is one of the greats. Why? Because of his mastery of the relationship between space and time.
"He knows where he is at every moment. Even in a midfield where he’s surrounded by countless players, he chooses the right path every time. He knows where and when, always.”
Gerard Pique
Pique was Barcelona's fourth captain when Iniesta wore the armband in his final season. The centre-back is now vice-captain behind Sergio Busquets, having worn the armband plenty of times over the years, and is a prime example of an academy star returning to Camp Nou and thriving.
The 35-year-old was born in Catalonia, as were Xavi and Busquets. However, the ability of Albacete native Iniesta to feel as big a part of the Barcelona family felt like a testament to the man himself in Pique's eyes.
"Iniesta is an example of what La Masia means," Pique said in 2018. "Of players that have come from outside [Catalonia] and have developed here as players and as people."
Zinedine Zidane
It's not just teammates or colleagues who have sung Iniesta's praises over the years. Indeed, Zinedine Zidane - manager of Barcelona's old rivals Real Madrid - still recognised Iniesta's quality went beyond club animosity.
"It's difficult, because if you like football, to see a player like him go," Zidane said upon learning the veteran would be leaving Camp Nou. "I don't see him as a Barcelona player, I see him as a football player and two or three times I played against him.
"He is charming, he is very reserved and I like the people who show everything on the pitch and outside they are calmer. I only have good words for him, admiration for his football and I wish him the best for his future, but above all as a person."
David Silva
You could be forgiven for thinking the highest praise for Iniesta came from those with a Barcelona connection. However, former Manchester City midfielder Silva - a teammate in the 2010 World Cup triumph and the European Championships victories of 2008 and 2012 - was even more effusive than the rest.
“The press often ask me about Messi and Ronaldo and who is the best but one thing for me is very clear,” Silva said in 2012. “For me, the No. 1 is Andres Iniesta, because he is my team-mate for Spain and I can see that he is able to do even more difficult things on the pitch.
"Andres is magic with the ball and a great person, a big player for the team. I don’t know privately Ronaldo or Messi but Andres is such a big player and character. So important.”
