Jordi Alba thought he wanted to play another couple of years, which likely would have meant more time sharing the field with Lionel Messi.

And then, he simply changed his mind.

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

“I think it’s 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 it’s 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 finish this season with Inter Miami in the Major League Soccer playoffs, then wrap up a career that saw him play for Spain i

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