Andrés Iniesta explains why he was briefly a Real Madrid fan

Andrés Iniesta has explained why, as a child, he told people he was a Real Madrid fan.

The former FC Barcelona captain, who plays in Japan for Vissel Kobe, joined La Masia at age 12 and played his entire European career with the Catalans.

But prior to that, he was part of Albacete Balompié’s youth set-up.

“As a youngster, I was for Barça and for Albacete, the team from my region. But my first team was Albacete, and then it was Barça,” Iniesta said in an interview.

Iniesta was born in Fuentealbilla, a small town in the province of Albacete.

“It was of those things that you can have as a child, one day Barça scored seven goals against Albacete, and I got angry at Barça and there was some time where I was a bit confused with my own mind.”

Barcelona defeated Albacete 7-1 in La Liga in 1992, when Iniesta was only seven years old.

There is a video of the young Iniesta explaining that he used to support Real Madrid “all the way.”

It all turned out okay, one could say, as Iniesta won everything there was to win with Barcelona and the Spanish national team.

“At the end, I ended up at Barcelona, where I needed to be,” he said.