Words fail Piqué as Barça head for Rome

FC Barcelona insist they and not Chelsea FC deserve to be in the UEFA Champions League final because they were the team who made the most effort to win the semi-final.

United reunion
Defender Gerard Piqué, who now prepares for a reunion with his former club Manchester United FC in the Rome showpiece on 27 May, said: "We tried to attack in the first leg and tonight it was the same. We deserved it and it's great that we are there. We deserve it because we have worked hard this season."

Late equaliser
Piqué was expecting to find text messages from his former United team-mates on his phone when he got back on the team coach after a game in which Barcelona triumphed on away goals through Andrés Iniesta's added-time equaliser. "It's special for me because it's the Champions League and because the final is against my former club," he added. "It's a dream for any player to reach the Champions League final and no words can describe how happy I feel at this moment. The fans were great tonight. A lot of them had come over to enjoy the game with us and it was nice."

'Harsh' outcome
Former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, reflecting on the manner of Barcelona's last-gasp triumph, admitted that football can be a "harsh" game at times. "It is difficult to say that the wrong team went through tonight," he said. "We knew beforehand that it was going to be tight but as they say, you make your own luck. We had a little bit of luck but the way we played with ten men, the way we kept the ball, was quite impressive. You can't take anything away from Iniesta, it was a great finish."

No change
Gudjohnsen, who came on in the dying seconds to help protect the advantage the Spanish international had just won for his team, says Barça will not be changing their approach for the final. "It will be the same as any game," he added. "Just look at the way we played over the two legs in the semi-final. We will play our football in our normal style and I will have no problem celebrating if we win."