UEFA Champions League 2016-17: Andres Iniesta reveals Arda Turan was the “key” against Borussia Monchengladbach

Arda Turan scored the equalising goal for Barcelona 

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta thinks Turkish teammate Arda Turan’s performance was the key in the UEFA Champions League match against German side Borussia Monchengladbach. Barcelona won the match with goals from Turan and defender Gerard Pique. 

The Turkish midfielder came off the bench in the second half replacing Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic and scored the first goal for the Catalan side. The Barcelona captain was particularly happy about Turan’s strike in the match and talked about his teammate’s performance to Sport-English.

“Arda’s contribution was key for the goal, but also for everything else he added. That’s the beauty of this squad.” 

He revealed that Barcelona started to gain some ground in the second half. “In the second half we found space inside and we were able to get a little more continuity in our play. It was a demanding game and the three points are very welcome.”

Enrique happy with Turan

Luis Enrique, the Barcelona manager was delighted by Turan’s performance in the match. "I'm really happy with Arda's performance," 

The Barcelona manager also thinks that the Turkish star has already answered his critics in the past few games. "This year he's showing the form we all knew he was capable of,” he added.

However, the treble-winning manager also believes that Turan’s performance was nothing to be surprised of. “He's helping the team a lot, but that's something we knew he'd do when we signed him,” said Enrique.

The Catalan club was facing a lot of pressure from the German side last night at Borussia Park. Keeping Barcelona’s previous records against German sides in mind, Iniesta said he was satisfied with the Catalans’ performance against the Foals.

“I think we’ve done so with a well-rounded performance,” said Iniesta to Sport-English. The veteran midfielder also admitted that the match did not turn out as expected for the Barcelona team and they had a hard time against the Germans. “The way they played wasn’t what we predicted and we had to turn around a difficult situation,” the World Cup-winning midfielder added. 

Barcelona is currently at the top of Group C with six points after two consecutive wins against Celtic and Borussia Monchengladbach.  The Spanish champions will be facing Premier League leaders Manchester City on October 20 in their next Champions League group stage fixture. 

For more articles like this and all news related to the wide world of football, please click here.