Andres Iniesta opens up on struggle with depression months before 2010 World Cup

Barcelona: Spanish football legend Andres Iniesta revealed that he was struggling with depression after winning the Champions League with Barcelona in 2009 and a few months before winning the FIFA World Cup with Spain.

In a Rakuten TV documentary, ‘Andres Iniesta - The Unexpected Hero', which was released on Thursday and covers his move to Japanese side Vissel Kobe in 2018, the 35-year-old spoke about the mental struggles that came with suffering an injury during the 2009 Champions League and the death of his close friend Daniel Jarque.

Jarque was the captain of the Barcelona-based Espanyol side before his death by heart attack at the age of 26. Iniesta was of the same age then. "The days pass and you realise you're not improving, you don't feel good, you're not yourself. Everything clouds over and goes dark," Iniesta says in the documentary.

Iniesta said that Jarcque's death "was like a body blow, something powerful that knocked me down again and I was pretty low, clearly because I wasn't very well."

Maria Lujan said that there was one night when he asked if he could sleep with her. "I noticed he wasn't well one night when we were sleeping downstairs and he came down and said, ‘mum can I sleep here with you?'" Maria said. "Then the world came down on my head." IANS

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