Iniesta: ‘Score as soon as possible’

By Football Italia staff

Andres Iniesta acknowledges Barcelona “must try to score as soon as possible” against Juventus.

The Bluagrana trail 3-0 from the first leg of the Champions League Quarter-Final, but overcame a 4-0 first leg defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the previous round.

“There are a lot of similarities,” Iniesta noted in the pre-match Press conference. “There are a lot of points in terms of the requirement to score, granting very few or no opportunities to the opponents, and that has to be the mindset, the approach to the game from the first minute.

“We need to try and scoreas soon as possible and see how the game unfolds, be patient and know how to suffer, how to push when needed and try to make the most of our opportunities.

“In my opinion there’s nothing else we can do. We can’t get nervous if the goals don’t come right away, they’ll have to come, we’ll need to work throughout the game and minimise their chances.

“The first leg was a bad result for us, because we didn’t do things properly as everyone saw.

“Now the result is difficult to overturn, not least because of the opponents we’re facing.

“That said, we have the potential and the players to turn around this elimination, or at least to try.

“We need to force the play, create moments and chances to put them at risk of elimination, that has to be our mentality.

“It all comes down to playing the perfect match in every sense, and that’s what we need to think about now.”

Despite the incredible comeback against PSG in the previous round, Iniesta acknowledged that tomorrow’s match would be different.

“Although the games are similar in terms of the circumstances, there are other aspects to be considered.

“I think Juve have conceded two or three goals in the entire Champions League, those are the stats and they are relevant, but nothing changes for us.

“I still see my team as having enough strength to score goals and turn around this very difficult tie.

“If don’t know if what we experienced with PSG will influence them, because the realities are different.

“I’m sure they know that a player playing for Barcelona can cause problems and they’ll try to make sure it’s not possible.”

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