Andres Iniesta: Barca cannot brood on ‘injustice’

ANDRES Iniesta has told his Barcelona team-mates they cannot afford to wallow in their “unjust” Champions League defeat at Chelsea if they are to stay on course for a clean sweep of silverware this season.

The Blues proved Barca’s nemesis once again on Wednesday night as they won 1-0 in the Champions League semi-final first leg at Stamford Bridge.

That was despite the visitors dominating almost every aspect of the game from an attacking perspective, leading midfielder Iniesta and even the club’s own website to lament what they perceived as an “injustice” and substitute Pedro to say: “We looked like fools when they scored”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But Barca – who had won 11 successive matches prior to their trip to London – only had themselves to blame after wasting a glut of chances to score, with the profligate finishing that has dogged them at times this season returning with a vengeance.

“That is the only thing that leaves a bad taste in the mouth – the failure to score,” Iniesta said.

“We generated enough chances to have won the game but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves – what we have to do now is think about the games that lie ahead.”

The first of those is tomorrow’s potential Primera Liga title decider against Real Madrid, who lead Pep Guardiola’s men by four points going into “El Clasico” at the Nou Camp.

That is followed by Tuesday’s return leg against Chelsea as the Club World Cup, Uefa Super Cup and Spanish Super Cup winners try to triumph in every competition they are in this season.

Becoming the first club to retain the Champions League crown is their No 1 goal and Iniesta was under no illusions about what they would have to overcome to reach their second successive final.

“We expect them to sit deep and wait for us, playing on the break,” he said. “We will have to be very aggressive when it comes to trying to create chances and to attacking them. We have to be careful, though, because the result is a difficult one. We have to have the same mentality.”

Chelsea’s ultra-defensive tactics on Wednesday split opinion between the purists and pragmatists but Iniesta had no problem with that type of approach, something Barca are long used to having to overcome.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“They have to try to take advantage of their strong points and that is fine,” he said. “They have to do what they think is in their interest, playing to their strengths. We do the same thing.”

Feted by many as the best club side of all time, Barca still have weaknesses they have not addressed this season or beforehand.

Victor Valdes is a superb sweeper but his feeble attempt to keep out Didier Drogba’s shot once again highlighted his failings as a goalkeeper.

Valdes said: “Chelsea were 100 per cent effective – they scored from the only chance that they had. It is a shame but we can only trust that if we play the same way in the second leg, we can still go through. 1-0 away is always a very dangerous result, though – and we know that.”