Andrés Iniesta: “The team is looking good, I'm optimistic”

Barça’s midfielder insisted this afternoon that : “the team are travelling to London looking for a win and not a draw”.

Iniesta got the winning goal the last time these two met at Stamford Bridge: “I’m very proud of that goal and happy to have been able to have that experience. It’s a feeling that is hard to describe”.

Iniesta also warned: “what happened in 2009 has got nothing to do with Wednesday’s game”.



Iniesta’s goal on 6 May 2009 was enough to send Barça through to the Rome Final against Manchester United and speaking to reporters at the Camp Nou this afternoon before the team trained and flew off for London, he revealed: “I guess it’s inevitable that that goal is being talked about again. It’s good to remember it because it was a special and very intense moment – not just for me, but for all of us. Life goes on though, and Wednesday is a different situation and a different game. I’m very proud of that goal and happy to have been able to have that experience. It’s a feeling that is hard to describe”.

Iniesta also admitted that this week: “is fundamental, important, irreplaceable – whatever adjective you want to put : against Chelsea we are playing for a place in the Champions League final and on Saturday we are playing to keep our fight for the league title on course. This is a key moment of the season and the team are looking good, which makes us optimistic. At the start of the season, all of us would have taken the situation we are in now. We’ve been fighting hard for months and now we are here still in with a chance of winning everything”.

There’s also no risk, according to Iniesta, that the team will lack focus against Chelsea, distracted by the Madrid game: “we are just 180 minutes away from a Champions League final. Our focus has to be on the Chelsea match – if we are distracted and think about anything else, we will be making a mistake”.

Iniesta compared that 2009 game with Wednesday’s and reckons that Chelsea are now a more mature outfit: “they have more experience. They were strong in 2009 and they will be stronger now – strong, dangerous and intense. That will all be multiplied by the atmosphere at their own ground” . Iniesta also stressed the strengthening of the Chelsea team with the signings of his fellow Spanish internationals Fernando Torres and Juan Mata.

Finally, Iniesta insisted the players were clear that they had to go out and get a result in London: “we are going there to get a win, to put in a good performance and commit as few errors as possible. We know it’s a two legged tie, but we are going there to win”. (via FCBarcelona.com)