Iniesta: “If I played futsal I wouldn’t stop trying to do what I do”

Andrés Iniesta is the star of the new Nike advert along with the members of Barça Alusport and the futsal reserve team. He changed studs for training shoes before speaking in detail about the futsal world. In an interview with www.fcbarcelona.com and Barça TV, Iniesta says that the two sports “have a lot in common … There are different tactics and moves, but there the same essence of mastering the ball, combining and making quick decisions”. But he still doesn’t think it would be easy to switch from grass to court or vice versa.

Same Iniesta but on the court

But would Andrés Iniesta be the same player at futsal as he is in the eleven a side game? He said that apart from goalkeeper, he’d need to find the right position for his way of playing. “It would take some time to adjust but luckily enough the idea and way of doing things is the same in futsal … After getting to know the sport from inside, I’d need to see where I fit in best with the tactics and moves. But I wouldn’t stop trying to do what I do”.

Amazing skills

What he really appreciates about watching Barça Alusport is “the common denominator among all of them which is ball control. From Jordi Torras to Wilde, Fernandao, Igor..., they could all play football. It’s all about essence, and they all have amazing ball skills”.

He also said there is often talk of the two teams playing each other. “That would be nice” he laughed. “First we’d have to play futsal so that they can win, and then play football so we can win … When you only watch futsal but don’t play it, you think you can do things can you actually can’t … I think it’s a fun sport but also difficult because it’s so intense”.

It has not gone unnoticed by Iniesta how well Barça Alusport are doing. “What we’ve been enjoying these last few years at Barça has been unique” he says.

School days

The Barça midfielder always wanted to play football, but his earliest contact with the ball was on the futsal court. He explained that “I played futsal most because that was all we had. Fuentealbilla was a small town and just had the school court and not much more. All the children that liked football used to go there … But it is playing football that I have always liked most. I played futsal until I went to Albacete when I was eight and started playing 7-a-side. Although I started out on the school futsal court, I always wanted to be a footballer”.