Andres Iniesta’s Barcelona team will be preparing to face rivals Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, as they look to seal yet another semi-final place. Barcelona have appeared in all the Champions League semifinals since 2007.

Iniesta has been a major part of it and he is set to make his 500th appearance for the club in this encounter. He needs to be at his best in order to help the Catalan club get over Atletico, who have a 1-1 advantage from the first leg. The score may be level on aggregate, but the crucial away goal gives Diego Simeone’s team a vital advantage.

The second leg will be at the Vicente Calderon, where Atletico have been extremely strong this season.

Barcelona and Atletico have played each other a couple of times already this season, but there has been little to separate them in each occasion. They also separated by only a couple of points in the league title race with Atletico being the surprise leaders. Ahead of the match, Iniesta has compared this encounter to the Champions League semifinals with Chelsea in 2009. His late goal at Stamford Bridge helped Barcelona reach the finals, which they ultimately won after beating Manchester United.
He says that this Atletico team are similar to the Chelsea team of 2009.

"This game has something of the Chelsea semi-final about it. They are similar rivals who close down the space on the pitch and make it very uncomfortable for the opposition. I hope that record continues, but I also hope that things go well enough not to need a last-minute goal as we did in London," said Iniesta. "If he is out it's a big loss for them," said Xavi reacting to the absence of striker Diego Costa, who suffered a hamstring injury in the first leg.