5th April, 2012
Andrea Iniesta has vowed that his club will return to haunt Chelsea.
And, the Barcelona midfield genius warned Blues Boss Roberto Di Matteo: Record-breaker Leo Messi is out to disgrace them.
Iniesta’s late strike took Barca to the final at Chelsea’s expense on a controversial night in 2009 when Referee, Tom Henning Ovrebo turned down four Chelsea penalty claims.
His clincher also killed off AC Milan on Tuesday night to set up a semi-final with Chelsea. And the man who scored Spain’s World Cup final winner against Holland in 2010 still has a thirst for glory.
He said: “I have a big appetite to play semi-finals. I have a feeling I should score more goals than I do.
“It’s a question of ambition as I try to help the team in every game and scoring makes a player more complete. This team always respond on the big occasions.
“Our success is the fruit of our hard work, year in year out, and it’s the only lesson you can learn.
“Our team maintain the ambition and the results are the natural consequence of that.”
Argentine Messi set a new single season Champions League record with his two spot-kicks in the 3-1 win over Milan, and now has 14 goals in the competition this term.
This came two weeks after he broke Barca’s all-time scoring record as a La Liga hat-trick against Granada took him to 233 goals in total.
Messi will be itching to keep the run going against Chelsea and lead Barcelona to the final in Munich.
Iniesta said: “Leo will pulverise every record there is. From our side we will do our best to help him break as many as possible.”
Former Liverpool star Javier Mascherano said: “We want to get to our third final in four years.”
“It would be brilliant. Everyone here wants to be the first team to defend the Champions League.”
Barca full-back Daniel Alves pinpoints going through on aggregate on that 2009 night at Stamford Bridge as the springboard for everything the Catalan giants have gone on to achieve.
He said: “It’s the goal that led us to the final and thanks to that goal we went all the way and won this title. This goal gave us confidence and faith in what we were doing.
“It formed the basis of our success in our quest to win trophies.”
Putting Chelsea out came in coach Pep Guardiola’s first season and his side went on to complete a treble of Champions League, La Liga and Copa Del Rey.
In all, since that fateful night at the Bridge, Barca have won 13 out of 16 trophies they have competed for — three La Ligas, two Champions Leagues, two Club World Cups, two European Super Cups, three Spanish Super Cups and one Spanish Cup.
Alves said: “We strive to make our fans happy for the way we play, for the way we compete, for the love we have for the game.”
Victory over Milan put Barca into the semis for a fifth straight time.
Alves added: “We want to defend our title but we know it’s difficult.
“We are not invincible. When we are at our level, it’s extremely difficult to beat us but I’m not saying it is impossible.”