Iniesta bids farewell to glittering career in front of 45,000 in Tokyo

Tokyo: Retiring Spanish football legend Andres Iniesta bid farewell to his playing career Sunday in an exhibition match between Barcelona and Real Mad...

Tokyo: Retiring Spanish football legend Andres Iniesta bid farewell to his playing career Sunday in an exhibition match between Barcelona and Real Madrid greats in Tokyo and will now look to go into coaching.

The 40-year-old announced in October that he was hanging up his boots after a career that saw him win two European Championships and the 2010 World Cup.

He gave a crowd of more than 45,000 fans in Tokyo one last glimpse of the skills that also saw him win nine La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues during his 16 years with Barcelona.

He made sure he went out with a bang, delivering a last-minute cross that the Real Madrid defence turned into their own net to hand Barcelona a 2-1 win.

"I think it was a great game for the Japanese fans," said Iniesta, who played in Japan for five years after leaving Barcelona in 2018.