Spain's Iniesta Dedicates Goal to Dani Jarque

Moments after the goal Iniesta took off his blue jersey to reveal a white T-shirt with the inscription on it "Dani Jarque: siempre con nosotros" — "Dani Jarque: always with us. Photo by Getty Images

Spain hero Andres Iniesta has dedicated his goal to the memory of his friend Dani Jarque, who died at the age of 26 on a preseason tour of Italy last year, one month after being named captain of Espanyol.

Moments after the goal Iniesta took off his blue jersey to reveal a white T-shirt with the inscription on it "Dani Jarque: siempre con nosotros" — "Dani Jarque: always with us.

"I wanted to carry Dani with me," Iniesta said after picking up his man of the match award. "We wanted to pay tribute to him and we thought it was the best opportunity to do so."

Iniesta was highly emotional after the final and said “We played a great game and gave everything we had. The game was rough and hard but finally the better team prevailed. I can’t describe how I am feeling right now. I haven’t ever felt such kind of emotions before.”

“There is nothing better than winning the World Cup. It’s an historic moment for our country and I am extremely proud to be a part of the history.”

“I dedicate my goal to Dani Jarque. The win is for my family and all of our supporters. We have had some difficult moments but today we have finally proved that we are the best team in the world. I want to thank all our supporters and fans because the support we received was amazing.”

"I can't quite believe it yet," the 26-year-old Barcelona midfielder said. "I had the opportunity to score that goal which was so important to my team. It's something absolutely incredible. I simply made a small contribution to my team."

"When the game finished a lot of the difficult moments flashed in front of me," Iniesta said. "But, in the end, football sometimes gives back. Every situation has its moment and with this one I felt enormous happiness."

Spain defeated the Netherlands 1:0 in the 2010 World Cup final after 120 minutes on the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.

After a scoreless draw in the regular time, the Spanish and the Dutch went into a 30-minute extra time.

The only goal was scored by Spain's Iniesta in the 116th minute after Netherlands' back Heitinga received a red card in the 110th minute.

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