I am very happy to have played with the best in the history of the game, says Jordi Alba after announcing his retirement

Jordi Alba thought he wanted to play for a few more years, which would likely have meant sharing more time on the pitch with Lionel Messi.

And then he just changed his mind.

Alba spoke on Friday ahead of an Inter Miami training session about his decision to retire, a decision that was announced earlier this week but was made a few weeks earlier. And one he now supports.

“I think this is the best,” Alba said in his native Spanish at the team’s training base in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. «Physically I still feel good, but I think this is the most honest, the fairest thing to do. And it’s also a decision that I make alone, and I think it’s the right decision.»

Alba will end this season with Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer play-offs before completing a career that has seen him play for Spain at three different World Cups (2014, 2018 and 2022) and help Barcelona win six Spanish league titles, five Copa del Rey trophies and the Champions League in 2015.

“The best thing you can do is step aside,” Alba said. “I think it’s something to be proud of the career I’ve had.”

Inter Miami will pay tribute to Alba on Saturday evening, after the team’s match against Atlanta United. It will be the second major retirement ceremony for the club in a few weeks; Sergio Busquets, another long-time Messi teammate, will also retire when this season ends.

Alba has made 95 appearances in all competitions for Inter Miami, with 14 goals and 38 assists.

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Alba, Busquets and Luis Suarez – whose status for 2026 and beyond is uncertain – were all at Barcelona with Messi, and all signed up to join the MLS relatively quickly when Messi surprised many in the football world by opting to sign with Inter Miami in mid-2023. Messi’s contract also expires after this season, although he and the team have been working on a new deal for months.

«Thanks to you, Jordi. I’m going to miss you very much. After many things together, it will feel strange to look to the left and not see you there,» Messi wrote in a message to Alba on Instagram earlier this week.

Messi and Alba have made little secret of the fact that they have a connection on the pitch that cannot easily be explained, a sixth sense that always knows where the other is and where they are going.

“That back pass that we have done so many times… the opponents already knew it (was coming), but maybe the timing that we had or that we have today still works,” Alba said. «I am very happy that I have been able to play with the best in the history of football. I also give him a lot of assists, but he has also given me almost all the goals that I have scored. I am proud to have played with him for so many years.»

Published on October 11, 2025