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07.05.2009 12:57
Valdés, Touré and Iniesta, heroes of a magical night
Roger Bogunyà
The heroic victory at Stamford Bridge was, of course, a team effort but three names stand out from the rest: Valdés, Touré Yaya and Andrés Iniesta.
In the aftermath of a night of football passion, such as
Wednesday night’s Champions League semi-final second leg, there are always players who are
remembered by the fans, some for good reasons and some for not so good reasons. Alves and Abidal
played their part against Chelsea but will now miss the final due to suspension. But the fans will
always remember three performances: the vital saves of Valdés, Touré implacable marking of Drogba
and the stunning injury time goal from Iniesta.
Valdés keeps Barça in the tie
Victor Valdés couldn’t do anything to stop Essien’s pile driver in the 9th minute but he went on to pull off a series of excellent saves. Drogba, who had a great double chance saved by Valdés in the first leg, was once again frustrated by the Barça keeper. The first opportunity came from a free kick in the 24th minute and the second – an even better save – was a one-on-one in the 52nd minute which Valdés stopped with his legs. Both saves came with the score at 1-0 for Chelsea – just as happened in Saint-Denis against Arsenal.
Touré Yaya: a central defender is born
The team arrived in London with a big question mark hanging
over them. Who would partner Piqué in the centre of the Barça defence? Guardiola fooled most of the
pundits and handed Touré Yaya the job, deciding that his strength and speed made him the ideal man
to mark Drogba. Despite making his Club debut in this position, he limited his fellow Ivory Coast
international to just two chances on the night. A central defender is born.
Iniesta
For 92 minutes, the dense defensive barriers erected by Guus
Hiddink smothered Barça’s every attacking movement. In fact, Barça had failed to produce a
single shot on target. But then, in the 3rd minute of injury time, Iniesta fired from just outside
the box into the top corner of Cech’s goal and changed the course of the semi-final. A great
goal that will go down in Barça folklore. A shot that went straight to Rome.
Xavi, four shots
In a match with few goal-scoring opportunities, midfielder Xavi was the most active player for
Barça. He managed four shots although none of them was on target. In fact, nobody managed a shot on
target for Barça until the 93rd minute when Iniesta got his goal. That was all that was needed.
