SOCCER UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI-FINALS, SECOND LEGS:THIERRY HENRY will travel to London with his Barcelona team-mates, but uncertainty and intrigue last night surrounded his fitness for tomorrow's Champions League semi-final second leg at Chelsea.
Barcelona originally briefed that the striker would be out of action for around two weeks after he missed training because of a bruised knee, only to say later that he was available for selection.
Henry picked up the injury during Barcelona’s victory over Real Madrid on Saturday night when he scored twice and won the free-kick that led to another goal in a 6-2 victory. Although he was withdrawn on 60 minutes, the problem was not thought to be serious. He had carried on playing for almost half an hour after hurting the knee and had been replaced only with the game virtually won after scoring Barcelona’s fourth.
Henry described his substitution as a “sensible precaution” and said: “Sergio Ramos caught me from behind and, as I fell to the floor, I hit my knee. It hurts a little but I think I will be able to play against Chelsea.”
In a private briefing, the Catalan club said Henry faced a lay-off of 10 to 15 days. One local website asked readers how much of a blow his absence was to Barcelona’s chances.
But around two hours later a statement was made by the club to deny Henry had been ruled out.
The question was why? Was the earlier briefing an honest mistake that needed rectifying? Or had Henry pleaded with Barcelona to be given more time to prove his fitness and, if necessary, play through the pain?
Having turned in his finest performance since joining the club, he is desperate not to miss the biggest match of his Barcelona career so far, especially not in London.
Another possibility is that the coach, Pep Guardiola, wants to keep Chelsea guessing, particularly as Henry’s absence would not mean just swapping like for like. Rather than replacing him with another striker, the most natural option would be to push Andres Iniesta into the attacking three and add an extra midfielder, giving Barcelona a more physical presence with either Seydou Keita or Sergio Busquets.
Lionel Messi has warned Chelsea that Barcelona’s confidence is sky-high after their weekend El Clasico success.
“We will play in the same way against Chelsea as we did against Real and, playing like that, we will have many chances.
“If we do things as we did on Saturday then we will score and go through. This was a massive boost. We’re going to London with great spirit and desire to fight and with a lot of belief that we’ll go through.
“We’ve come out of this with a renewed confidence and strength.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s failure as yet to secure a first European Cup despite coming agonisingly close in recent seasons has prompted Frank Lampard to admit he feels as if the club have been cursed in the competition. Chelsea have featured at the semi-final stage in five of the past six seasons and retain realistic hopes of reaching a second successive final with the tie goalless from the first leg.
They were the width of a post away from claiming the trophy last season, when John Terry’s penalty thumped against the woodwork to give Manchester United a reprieve in the shoot-out, with painful memories of that failure driving them on this time around.
“There’s definitely a sense of determination, because we all crave success with our clubs,” said Lampard. “The more years you get close and it doesn’t happen, you think: ‘Will I ever get there?’ ”
GuardianService
