Andres Iniesta

Barcelona star Andres Iniesta says that he is confident of being fit for the Champions League final in Berlin. The midfielder is understood to be a doubt for the match against Juventus.

A victory for Barcelona will see them move level with Liverpool as the five-time European champions. They have had four victories up until now but a majority of them have come since 2006. While Frank Rijkaard’s team started the run with a win in 2006, Pep Guardiola continued this form with two more trophies under his regime. Iniesta has been a lucky footballer to have been part of three title winning teams already.

Andres Iniesta faces a bit of difficulty while playing in pair with Xavi in Barcelona midfield.

The 30-year old player has admitted it himself.
To hear something like this from Iniesta is definitely a bit of a surprise because Xavi is supposed to be in his closest of mates.

The duo has had a great coordination over the years and they have seen a number of seasons pass by at Camp Nou playing alongside.

Their presence is probably the reason why Barcelona’s midfield has been one of the most solid ones in the world in the last decade or so.

But, for some reason, Iniesta is starting to believe that he and Xavi are not that effective playing together anymore.

According to Iniesta, his relationship and tuning with Xavi is still the same, but, things aren’t working out as well on the field as the two would have liked.

Andres Iniesta who picked up a calf injury on the 72nd minute during Barcelona’s league match against Real Madrid has not managed to play for his club in their latest games against Celta de Vigo and Almeria.

The Spanish midfielder is far from being the same fast pace player that scored the winning goal for Spain during the 2010 World Cup. Iniesta still remains playing an influential role Barcelona but his impact is not the same as it was some time ago.

Not only has the influence of Andres Iniesta been diminishing recently but it’s also occurring with Xavi Hernandez as the experienced midfielders are not as reliable or consistent as they once were but despite this, Iniesta was still included in the shortlist of 23 players that are contenders on winning the 2014 FIFA Ballon D’Or.

Former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has backed Luis Enrique to be a success at the Catalan club.

After unsuccessfully having a spell under Gerardo Martino, Barcelona went back to their roots once again by appointingEnrique is the replacement in the summer. The former Barcelona captain had failed spell at Roma a few years ago, while he has not been at the top level of management since then. Despite this, he was not brought in as the new Barcelona manager. Even though results at the start of the season were extremely good, the form has plummeted of late.

Bojan Krkic made everyone in Barcelona take notice of him as the Spanish forward broke Lionel Messi’s record of being the youngest player of the Catalan to be featured in La Liga match. When Bojan played for the youth academy of Barcelona, he made a name for himself by scoring over 850 goals during his time playing in the youth teams. It did not take long for him to sign a professional contract with the main squad of Barcelona and join the senior team.
After progressing to the senior team of Barcelona, his impact could never really be felt as he was usually being overlooked by other players such as: David Villa, Lionel Messi, Pedro and other players.
Barcelona eventually decided to release Bojan Krkic to As.Roma and Ac.Milan on loan deals with the option of the Italian club signing him on a permanent basis but neither of the clubs agreed to sign him permanently as Bojan could never really make his presence be felt in any of those teams.

Luis Suarez was recently given the all clear to make an appearance for Barcelona in the friendly matches and also to train with the team. However, he remains suspended until the end of October as a result of the four month ban he received from Fifa for biting into Italy defender Chiellini. It is highly anticipated that he will make his debut for his new team in the El Clasico against Real Madrid. Ahead of this match the expectations are that the striker will perform exceptionally well. However, there have also been some doubters who think that the 27-year-old will struggle to settle at the Camp Nou.

Manchester United has recently secured the services of a couple of exciting players in the form of Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera. The fans of the club are quite happy with these new signings and so are the other players of the team.

The two prominent players of the Red Devils’ squad i.e. Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young have given warm welcome to the above mentioned two guys.

Young wrote on a social networking site, “I am very happy with the arrival of the new boys Ander and Luke and I want to welcome them with open arms. Really, can’t wait to meet them.”

While, Rooney, who is recovering from a disastrous World Cup journey with England, wrote, “Luke Shaw comes to United. He’s a great bloke and a terrific player. Welcome boy.”

The Red Devils are rumoured to have spent a lot of bucks to bring Shaw and Herrera at Old Trafford.

Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta has said the team is not likely to forget the humiliation they suffered at the hands of the Netherlands in their opening group game at the World Cup in a hurry and will look to make amends and secure progression into the next round.

Vicente del Bosque oversaw his side surrender a one goal lead to go down 5-1 to an energetic and hungry Dutch side with Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben grabbing two goals each as the reigning world champions suffered their biggest defeat since 1963.

The victory has been hailed by the Dutch media as a perfect payback for their 2010 World Cup final defeat at the hands of Spain while the Spanish media has slammed the team for being too casual in their approach to the game and being arrogant enough to not take the Dutch seriously enough.

Andres Iniesta has surprised everyone by stating that he feels that manager Gerardo Martino is the right fit for Barcelona despite rumours that he is set to depart at the end of the season after a very poor campaign. After winning the league title last season under Tito Vilanova, Barcelona were expected to push on to new heights under Martino. The Argentine was reportedly appointed after recommendation from Lionel Messi, but things have not gone the same way as he would have hoped.

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.