Iniesta: "Victor Valdes is great at one on one's"

Barcelona player Andrés Iniesta gave an interview to the club's official media.




Eight points ahead of the team in second place and twelve ahead of Madrid. Now what?
Well, we need to keep going in the same way in the last match before the break. The most important thing is the team’s mental toughness and we have to keep it that way until the end.

Without that mental toughness, when Eto'o missed the penalty you might not have won. Instead the players kept on going.
That’s one of the key things about this team. Right from the start we played our game and went out to win. Some games are easier and others are harder, but it’s that mental toughness which keeps you going unil the end.

What were you thinking when Drenthe had that great chance?
I have a lot of faith in Víctor Valdés and he’s really good at one on one's. Fortunately for us he blocked Drenthe’s shot and we won.

And then everyone went mad when Barça scored twice?
Madrid had had two chances and then we missed a penalty. That’s why Eto'o’s goal was crucial. And then Messi’s strike was the icing on the cake to get 12 points ahead of Madrid and keep pushing on.

With an eight point advantage over the team in second place, how is the team aiming to maintain its good form?
Eight points is a big gap but there are still a lot of games to go, and we need to keep that at the front of our minds.

It’ll be six weeks tomorrow since you got injured. How are you feeling?
I’m feeling good and getting to the end of my layoff.

What’s your impression of the team when you’re out?
You can’t do much from the outside, and that’s not a nice feeling. But I’ve been okay because the team has been doing really well.

What do you think of the season so far?
The team’s doing really well. We’ve worked hard from the start and we’re now reaping the benefit. But we still lost at Numancia and drew with Racing in our first two games and people were worried. Since then the results have got better and we need to keep working to make sure it continues that way.

What would you say to the fans to rein in their euphoria?
People know how hard it is to win the league and win every game. It wasn’t that long ago we weren’t winning things, so that shows we need to keep our feet on the ground.

Can you get across to the new players what happened last season?
That’s easy because it was a really bad time. Now we have to make the most of the good times and enjoy them. Plus at the end of the season we want to do what’s really important and win things.

You’ve experienced a lot with Barça and you’re still quite young. What’s it been like?
There have been good times and some really bad ones but they’ve helped me grow. You learn from the good and the bad times from which you can take the positives. Now we need to enjoy ourselves and know that at the end of the season things could be even better.


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