Leaving his home in Fuentealbilla at age 12 to join La Masia in Barcelona was a very difficult decision for a young Andres Iniesta and his family to have to make, but ultimately it helped transform him into the player and person he is today.
In Iniesta's mind, there are a lot obstacles and difficulties in the path to such overwhelming success and universal adoration, as it was never easy to achieve what he has.
For that reason, he set out to write his autobiography with the help of journalists Ramon Besa and Marcos Lopez, and to further clarify the key moments in his life in an interview with Jorge Valdano on BeIN Sports.
"My first response to Barcelona was that I didn't want to sign," Iniesta said. "It broke my family bond and forced me to go to a far away place without them.
"As weeks went by, and after talking with my father, I came to see it as a challenge."
Delving deeper into that first night spent at La Masia, Iniesta admits his mother also played a key role.
"Even considering how brave my father was, had it not been for my mother's strength, that night I would have returned from La Masia and gone back home," he continued.
"They were the worst months of my life as a person, but with everybody's help everything eventually got better."
