14.05.2008 14:17
Iniesta: “We have to look to the future”
Jesús Carrillo/Sandra Sarmiento
Andrés Iniesta has admitted that he is sad to see Frank Rijkaard leaving the club, but is confident and excited by the prospect of next season and the arrival of Josep Guardiola at the helm.
The 24-year-old midfielder is working on recovering from his knee injury, but spoke to the press on
Wednesday: "The thing with Rijkaard is sad, but they are things that happen in the world of
football," he said. "But now we have to look to the future and we should confront it with hope and
confidence."
Eight years on
Iniesta can now prepare to work under Guardiola, eight years after sharing th dressing room
with the incoming head coach. "I am pleased to be able to work with him again," he continued. "He
will be the new coach and I have faith that he can change the current situation around. This year
has ended sadly for everyone, it was a year full of deception. But in football things can change
very quickly and that is what we want."
Heroes
"Josep Guardiola and Michael Laudrup were idols of mine when I was a
child," Iniesta then revealed. "Now to work with Guardiola will be important to me and we will all
give him our total support."
Reflecting on other issues that have arisen at Camp Nou in recent days, Iniesta spoke first
about the whistles aimed at Deco and Samuel Eto'o during hte Mallorca game. "We did not like that
because they are our team-mates," he said. "But the fans always have their reasons and we just have
to accept it."
Captain’s role
In the future, Iniesta could become one of the team captains at Barcelona and he would relish
the prospect. "It would be marvellous to be a captain," he stated. "To any player it would given a
boost and more confidence, but right now we have the best skipper we could have in Carles Puyol."
Finally, Iniesta was asked about Bojan Krkic's possible inclusion in the Spanish squad for
the forthcoming Euro 2008 tournament in Austria and Switzerland. "We must not become too excited
beacuse the list will not be announced until Friday," he said. "But I would be very happy for him
and for those that have supported him all year. He has had a very good season and deserves the
recognition."