FCBARCELONA.CAT
Main menu
Content menu
Football
01.03.2007 14:18
Iniesta finds goal touch
Andrés Iniesta has struck a rich vein of goal scoring form this season. Of the 12 career goals he’s scored for the first team, 7 of them have come in the last 6 months.
From his debut on 29th October 2002 until the start of the current season, Andrés Iniesta had scored just 5 goals with the first team. However, so far this season, he has scored 7 in all competitions and has clearly rediscovered the goal scoring touch he demonstrated during his time in the youth teams. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the Spanish international midfielder told us. “It was something I had to deal with and this season things have improved quite a lot. There’s still a lot of the season left and I’ll be trying to score more goals, above all to help the team, which is what interests me and what we all have to do”.
Seven goals this season
So far this season, Iniesta has scored 4 goals in the league – against Valencia, Mallorca, Villarreal and Gimnastic - 2 in the Champions League – both against Levski Sophia and 1 in the Cup – against Zaragoza, making a total of 7. He’s the fourth highest scorer in the team behind Ronaldinho (17), Saviola (12) and Gudjohnsen (10).
First and last in the Cup
His first goal for Barca came on 14th April 2004 in the last 16 of the Cup against Levante (3-1 for Barca) and the last of his goals has also come in the Cup – a goal that put Barca in the semi-finals.
League record
He scored his first league goals on 10 April 2004 in the Nueva Zorrilla against Valladolid, helping Barca to a 1-3 victory. In the 2004-05 season he scored 2 more but failed to get on the score sheet at all in the league last season – a total of 87 matches and just 3 goals. However, his goal tally has increased dramatically this season, with 4 goals in 23 league matches.
“”We’ll have a good chance at Anfield””
After coming from behind to eliminate Zaragoza, Iniesta is optimistic about Barca’s chances
of saving the Champions League tie against Liverpool: “We’ve got all the hope in the
world. It’s difficult but if we play well we’ll have a good chance, I’m convinced
of that”. The improved performances in the last two matches against Athletic Bilbao and
Zaragoza have lifted the players’ morale ahead of the tough matches coming up. In addition,
the change in the playing system could unsettle Sevilla, Liverpool and Real Madrid, just as it did
against Zaragoza: “The factor of surprise was very important because it’s not just
about knowing how a team plays but also the movements they might make. We talk about finding
answers when a team shuts down at the back and changing systems is one of them. The change worked
perfectly. It was a test we passed. But we’ve been using a system for 2 or 3 years that has
worked very well”.
