Iniesta: Buzzing Barca eyeing perfect year
Reuters - Wednesday 14 December 2011, 12:52
Barcelona are
still buzzing from their Clasico victory over Real Madrid as
they bid to complete a perfect year by winning the Club World
Cup, midfielder Andres Iniesta said on Wednesday.
Beating Real Madrid 3-1 at the Bernabeu last weekend to go
top of La Liga, the perfect preparation for winning the
inter-continental trophy for the second time in three years.
"We're still buzzing from the win at Real," Iniesta said
before Thursday's semi-final against Asian champions Al Sadd of
Qatar.
"It has given us a real confidence boost and the spirit in
the team is fantastic. We won La Liga and the Champions League
and we're 100 percent committed to completing the set.
"We respect our opponents but we want to take the trophy
home to complete a perfect year and gives ourselves a wonderful
Christmas present."
The Catalan giants captured the Club World Cup in 2009 in
Abu Dhabi by beating Argentina's Estudiantes in the final but
lost to Brazil's Internacional in 2006 in Japan.
"We have some bad memories from five years ago," said
Iniesta. "It was a bitter pill to swallow but we've been able to
turn those negative feelings into positives.
"Losing to Internacional made us a stronger team and we'll
show that this time.
"Our motivation is sky high after beating Real but the
Spanish league isn't won in December. We're fully focused on
winning the Club World Cup now."
Brazil's Santos await in Sunday's final after the South
American champions beat J-League champions Kashiwa Reysol 3-1 in
the first semi-final in Toyota.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola insisted his side had no
unfinished business in Japan despite getting ambushed in the
2006 final.
"We are not here for revenge," he said. "Revenge is never a
good motivation. For the past year and a half, Barca have passed
every test and come through every challenge thrown at us.
"We have had to come through a very tough Champions League
competition to get here so we want to leave everything out there
on the pitch and win the trophy.
"It won't be easy. Anything can happen over 90 minutes of
football and Al Sadd could end up in the final instead of us if
we're not right on our game."
Guardiola admitted, however, that his biggest problem was
getting his players to adjust to the time difference after their
13-hour flight.
"Some of them are waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning still,"
said Guardiola. "But you just have to deal with jet lag. We will
be fine by tomorrow's semi-final."
A trio of players, led by midfielder Xavi, blew the cobwebs
away with a two-hour trip to Japan's ancient capital Kyoto -
not to look at temples, but simply to ride the Bullet Train.
"It's a rare opportunity to play on this stage so we want to
savour it," Iniesta added. "We will need to put in a proper
shift for 90 minutes and be at our maximum level to win."