Barcelona defender Eric Abidal has surprisingly admitted that he fouled Nicolas Anelka during the Champions League semi-final with Chelsea.
The French player, who was used at centre back in the absence of Carles Puyol and Rafael Marquez on Wednesday night, was dismissed in the second half as made slight contact with his compatriot as he went clean through....
However, although the striker appeared to go down easily, Abidal has refused to blame Anelka, admitting that he sacrificed himself for the sake of his team-mates.
“I was defending against Nico [Anelka], but as I was the last defender and the referee thought I fouled him, dismissing me is normal,” Abidal said.
“If I let Nico run towards goal then he scores the second one and it is over, so we can say it is a good foul. I sacrificed myself. It is always disappointing to reach the final without being able to feature.”
Abidal has also hailed his manager, Josep Guardiola.
“I think that he is a frank man,” he said. “Even if it is difficult within a club like Barcelona, he accepts his responsibilities. His strength is to have been able to impose his ideas from when he arrived.
“It is like in every job. If everybody is going to the same direction, there is no reason it would not work.”