Madrid (AFP)

Former Spanish international Andres Iniesta experienced depressive episodes at the age of 25, shortly after winning the Champions League with FC Barcelona, ​​he revealed in a documentary released on Thursday evening.

"Days passed, and I realized that my situation was not improving, I did not feel good, I was not myself. Everything was dark, I saw everything in black," said Iniesta in the documentary "Andres Iniesta, the unexpected hero" broadcast by the video-on-demand service Rakuten TV.

In 2009, Iniesta just won the Champions League for the second time in his career with Barça, but he lost one of his best friends, Dani Jarque, defender of Espanyol who died after a heart attack.

"When I heard the news, I felt like I received a punch, a very powerful blow which knocked me out and made me fall very low, I was really not well" , said the former Barça captain.

In this documentary which looks back on his three seasons spent in Japan, at Vissel Kobe, Iniesta, 35, revealed that his distress was so great one evening that he asked his parents if he could sleep with them.

- Supported by Guardiola -

"When your 25 year old son comes to see you at midnight and tells you that he wants to sleep with his parents, he cannot be well. He said to me + I am not well +, I asked him what n 'was not going and he replied + I don't know, I don't feel good + ", said his father Jose Antonio.

"At one point, I even said to myself that it would be better if he stopped football," he said.

Iniesta then consulted a pyschologist Inma Puig, who underlined the decisive role of Pep Guardiola, then coach of Barcelona, ​​to get the midfielder out of his depression.

"I remember he always said that the most important thing was Andres the man, not the player," said the pyschologist.

"Guardiola tried to get him out of his bottomless distress," confirmed the player's mother, Maria.

Iniesta, who went through the prestigious Barça de La Masia training center, won four Champions Leagues, nine Spanish league titles and two Club World Cups with the Catalan club.

He also won two European titles with Spain (2008, 2012) and the 2010 World Cup.

Speaking of his departure for Japan in 2018 that surprised its leaders and supporters, Iniesta said that "no one at the club ever imagined that I could leave." But it's like any relationship, if you don't argue not things at the right time, it is no longer possible to reverse ", he concluded.

© 2020 AFP