On April 27, 2018, Andrés Iniesta announced his departure from Barcelona in tears. 758 games and 39 titles was the legacy of one of the best players in the history of the Catalan club and the Spanish team. His destination was Japan, specifically the Vissel Kobe. There he instantly guessed that the Asian country is not Spain. That the Japanese culture, infinitely more reserved, has nothing to do with the Spanish. Fans didn't approach him on the streets, they just watched him from a distance. Ojipláticos, yes.

The manchego, at 35, maintains his romantic relationship with football, although in a much lower performance league. Not only in his new club, where he appears as a starter in each meeting and in just one year he has already been appointed captain, but in the campuses he organizes for children. Some children who revere him, who are willing to do anything to share an hour and a half by his side. Even travel 1,000 kilometers by road.

This is the case of Yuga Murase , 11, who has to face five hours one way and another five back to be able to attend these football campuses organized by the 'Iniesta Methodology'. Always accompanied by his father, a driver on long journeys, the young man is a fierce fan of Vissel Kobe, especially since Iniesta arrived.

From Nagano to Kobe

According to her father, Yuga always cries in dismay until she falls asleep from the fatigue on the trip back home, after the training given by her idol and the rest of the Academy's trainers. A few days ago, the little boy himself enthusiastically celebrated the opening of an airline between his city, Nagano, and the town of Kobe, which would make it easier for him to attend the matches of the Iniesta team, where David Villa is also more frequent.

In August, Iniesta organized its first campus in Japan. There, of course, Yuga came, with the intention of embracing and sharing confidences with his referent. His tears did not stop while he was photographed with the former Barcelona player, captivated to know the long journey made to attend the appointment.

"Be as good a person as him"

Iniesta connoisseur of the great passion and effort of Yuga and his whole family, he organized a meeting in the locker rooms of Vissel Kobe after a league game. The young man then received the signed '8' shirt, how could it be otherwise. "I hope I can play as Iniesta one day, but above all I hope I can be as good a person as he is," said the boy after his meeting with the Manchego. A day that will never be erased from memory.

That meeting with Iniesta changed the character of the 11-year-old boy, according to his mother. "We have learned that dreams can come true," he said in a letter of thanks he sent to the Academy.

His father, always looking forward to the calendar so as not to miss the next appointments, will continue driving the necessary kilometers to fulfill his son's wish. And Yuga will fulfill the only requirement imposed by him: to maintain his good performance in the school. Anything to share the ball with Andrés Iniesta.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Andres Iniesta
  • sports
  • football
  • FC Barcelona

FC BarcelonaPiqué attacks the board: "We know what media are related to the club"

LaLigaTer Stegen is the angel of Barcelona

FootballNeymar argues that he had no agreement with the PSG to claim 43.6 million Barça