11.04.2011 10:59
Iniesta has only missed ties that the team have ended up winning
Marc Guillén
Tuesday’s game against Shaktar will be just the second match in his career that Andres Iniesta has missed through suspension.
The other games he’s missed this season have all been in the Cup competitions and Barça have
always got through despite his absence. Iniesta has been an ever present in the league so far this
year and he’s only missed out on the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup, a Champions League
Cup game and four Spanish Cup matches.
Four wins and two defeats
Iniesta began the season late as a result of his efforts in South Africa and thus
missed the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup, when Seville beat Barça 3-1 and was also left out of
the squad for the two Spanish Cup games against Ceuta. He missed the dead Group game against Rubin
Kazan (2-0) when he was an unused substitute and the second leg of the Spanish Cup quarter final
against Betis, when Barça lost 3-1. All of those games were missed to give him a break, but he
missed the second leg of the Spanish Cup semi final against Almeria, which Barça won 0-3, through
injury.
Second suspension of his career
Tuesday will be only the second time in his nine year career with the first team
that Iniesta has been suspended for a game, having missed the 2007/08 defeat at Deportivo (2-0) for
running up five yellow cards.