Barcelona midfielder Xavi has insisted that his side are still confident of reaching the Champions League Final in Rome despite drawing a blank against Chelsea in the two sides Semi-Final, 1st Leg.
The Barca stars failed to hit the target at Camp Nou on Tuesday night despite an attacking performance that saw them threaten Petr Cech on many occasions, but the Czech Republic custodian had an inspired performance to keep the game at a stalemate. Xavi has criticised Guus Hiddink’s ultra-defensive system, but said he expects the Londoners to show their true colours on home soil and to play a more positive football.
Xavi stated: “What can I say, they just closed the door. They did not try to attack because what they were looking for was a clean sheet. As far as Barca are concerned, we tried to score in front of our fans, who were very supportive, because we are aware of the importance of the first leg, but we could not. We did have chances to score thanks to Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o and Dani Alves, but Chelsea’s defence did well. At the end of the day, even if everything is not rosy and we did not claim the result we wanted to claim, at least we did not concede a goal, so there is a reason to be optimistic. We have an equal chance of qualifying for the final, and both teams will be determined to play out a huge game in London to reach our dream.”
The teams to play at the Stadio Olimpico on May is still a complete mystery, as Manchester United failed to take their chances of obtaining a commanding lead over a below-par Arsenal team at Old Trafford. John O’Shea got the only goal of the game to set up a nervy encounter next Tuesday at the Emirates Stadium.
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