Following their 3-1 semi-final aggregate win over fierce Spanish rivals Real Madrid, Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola says it will be honour to play at Wembley 19 years after the club won their first UEFA Champions League crown at the historic venue.Needing to overturn a 2-0 home defeat Real had to attack but they never managed a sustained threat on the Barcelona goal and fell behind to a Pedro strike in the 54th minute. Marcelo replied ten minutes later but it was only a consolation goal for Real.
"Football is coming home so it is an honour to play at Wembley," he said. "We won our first Champions League in 1992 at the old Wembley and we are ever so proud for our club and players."
The 40-year-old Barcelona manager thinks Manchester United will progress against Schalke to set up a repeat of the 2009 final which his side won 2-0, but he believes that would have no bearing on any potential rematch. "I suppose it will be Manchester [in the final], it was two years ago and I think Sir Alex Ferguson will always be there, so for us it is an honour and for me as a young coach it is an honour to arrive at the final and play them," he said.
Guardiola was unwilling to buy into Madrid's pre and post-match comments suggestions that the refereeing was an issue: "I don't have time for that, it has been a tough 20 days and we have played the richest team in the world many times," he said.
Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta, who set up Pedro's goal, was ecstatic. "It is a unique feeling, to once again be in the final," said Iniesta, who missed the first leg through injury. "Winning a confrontation like this one deserves to be feted."
Real's anguishGonzalo Higuain's first-half disallowed goal was one of the major talking points and Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso told Sky Sports 2 that the whole team were upset with what they perceived to be poor decisions. "When we scored the first goal it would have been totally different and we feel so many bad decisions have been made against us and we are not happy about that," said Alonso. "We think we did a good job but decisions went against us, we really feel that way."
The former Liverpool midfielder claimed that Higuain's disallowed goal would have altered the nature of the tie in Madrid's favour as the game was still deadlocked at 0-0 at the time. "It would have changed everything, our position would have been much stronger and after that it was much more difficult," he said.
Madrid manager Jose Mourinho was not at the ground after being sent to the stands in the first leg, but negative comments surrounding his tactics from that game were dispelled by Alonso, who also claimed his Portuguese manager had been able to get his message across before the match
"Until the sending off [of Pepe in the first leg] we were doing really well and it looked like it was going to finish 0-0 and with tonight's result we would have gone through," he said. "(Mourinho) was really upset that he couldn't be supporting the team in the stadium but he gave us lots of advice before the game."
Real's anguishGonzalo Higuain's first-half disallowed goal was one of the major talking points and Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso told Sky Sports 2 that the whole team were upset with what they perceived to be poor decisions. "When we scored the first goal it would have been totally different and we feel so many bad decisions have been made against us and we are not happy about that," said Alonso. "We think we did a good job but decisions went against us, we really feel that way."
The former Liverpool midfielder claimed that Higuain's disallowed goal would have altered the nature of the tie in Madrid's favour as the game was still deadlocked at 0-0 at the time. "It would have changed everything, our position would have been much stronger and after that it was much more difficult," he said.
Madrid manager Jose Mourinho was not at the ground after being sent to the stands in the first leg, but negative comments surrounding his tactics from that game were dispelled by Alonso, who also claimed his Portuguese manager had been able to get his message across before the match
"Until the sending off [of Pepe in the first leg] we were doing really well and it looked like it was going to finish 0-0 and with tonight's result we would have gone through," he said. "(Mourinho) was really upset that he couldn't be supporting the team in the stadium but he gave us lots of advice before the game."
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