Iniesta: Mourinho caused tension between Barca & Madrid which damaged Spain team

Vissel Kobe midfielder, Andres Iniesta, believes that during his time in the Spanish capital Jose Mourinho was responsible for creating an unbearable tension between Real Madrid and Barcelona, which caused much damage to the Spanish national team and the relationships between the players.

The ex-Barcelona midfielder spoke to Jordi Evole in La Sexta's Salvados show about how the historic rivalry between both teams turned to hate during the Portuguese's tenure at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

"You don't have to be for Barcelona or Real Madrid to know that the situation was unpleasant," Iniesta said.

"And the key component in that story was Mourinho. Whoever doesn't want to see that, is radical.

"You didn't see the rivalry that always existed before, it went beyond that, you saw hate.

"That atmosphere developed and it was unbearable. The Barca-Madrid tension caused by Mourinho did much damage to the national team [Spain] and the teammates."

The 34-year-old also opened up about the time when he suffered from depression.

"It all happened after winning the treble," he continued. "The goal against Chelsea, the Champions League, three titles, an incredible year.

"But not in the summer. You start to feel bad, something odd, and you don't know how to label it.

"You start an internal process, thinking, but you don't know why. You go round in circles and find yourself very empty.

"What happened to Dani [Jarque] also influenced it.

"One afternoon during pre season, I was at home and called doctor Pruna, to see what to do, because I didn't know what was going to happen.

"He told me that I needed help because I wasn't getting out of that situation.

"He wanted me to come that night to take some medication and rest. I had no excitement, no desire, no feelings.

"When you suffer from depression, you aren't yourself, when you are so vulnerable it's difficult to control moments in life.

"I spent some time receiving treatment from a psychologist, I will always remember how eager I was to have the meeting, I arrived 15 minutes early."

Finally, Iniesta admitted that being dropped for Spain's last-16 encounter with Russia in last summer's World Cup was a personal disappointment.

"It's not a very good memory for me, obviously," he explained.

"Things that start badly normally end badly. In a sporting sense, what happened with [Julen] Lopetegui wasn't positive.

"And the last match put the icing on the cake. I started on the bench and I didn't understand the decision.

"I said that to [Fernando] Hierro. I respected it because I had to respect it, but I didn't share it [his opinion].

"The coach spoke to me before and after, but I didn't understand the decision.

"I don't think he had the reasons to take it. I was insulted because it didn't make a difference what he said to me."