Andres Iniesta looked a whiter shade of his usual pale, a little red around the eyes, and just completely drained, as he emerged from Barcelona’s dressing room to face reporters on Tuesday night.
It was over – both Barcelona’s Champions League campaign, and his glorious career in the competition that he has won four times.
Asked if he had played his last game in the Champions League the 33-year-old midfielder, set to move to China in the summer, said: ‘Possibly yes. And that makes this all the harder.’
Andres Iniesta wore the armband in what was likely his last Champions League clash
Iniesta was replaced by Barcelona team-mate Andre Gomes during his side’s 3-0 defeat
It should not have ended this way. He was meant to bow out in Ukraine next month in the Champinos League final. He would by then have turned 34, and victory would have given him a fifth winners medal.
Sir Alex Ferguson was there to see him bow out, at least. He might have thought twice about his invite to Rome’s Olympic Stadium to watch Barcelona on Tuesday night. It was the there in 2009 that they beat his Manchester United team 2-0 in the Champions League final.
But he got to see an incredible comeback from Roma and he was witness to Iniesta’s last ever Champions League game.
Ferguson said of the Spain midfielder back in 2009 before that final: ‘I’m not obsessed with [Lionel] Messi, Iniesta is the danger. He’s fantastic. He makes the team work. The way he finds passes, his movement and ability to create space is incredible. He’s so important for Barcelona.’
He played injured that night, advised by club doctors not to shoot with his right foot because of recently torn thigh muscle. But he still played the pass for the first goal.
He can still make Barcelona tick at times. He set up Lionel Messi for the crucial first leg away goal against Chelsea in the last-16 and his form in the league has helped Barcelona run away with the league, but he was helpless on Tuesday night as they were over-run by Roma.
There is still no official confirmation of his departure but his decision is taken and will not be changed.
Tianjin Quanjian look set to pay him around 35m euros (£30.5m) net a season. The move makes huge business sense for the player in more ways than one. According to Catalan newspaper El Periodico, wine connoisseur, Iniesta, who set up the vineyards ‘Bodegas Iniesta’ in 2010 has a wine clause in his new deal. The Chinese club are understood to have committed to buying two million bottles from the player over the course of his new contract.
Iniesta won the Champions League at the same stadium where he appeared to bow out
Lionel Messi and Iniesta lift the prestigious trophy during a memorable night in Italy
The vintage playmaker can still win a league and a cup this season with Barcelona and in Russia this summer he could still make one more huge statement at the World Cup with Spain.
He cut a slightly forlorn figure as he left the pitch on 80 minutes, passing the captain’s armband on as he is about to do definitively. And even more so when he went from the dressing room to the team bus.
When he looks back on his career Rome will bring contrasting memories. This debacle will perhaps come to mind first. But it will not be long before the mental clock winds back to 2009 when his pass sent Samuel Eto’o to score the first goal in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory.
It seems like only yesterday. Yesterday was a far less rewarding day, but it’s been an incredible Champions League career.