UEFA ensure Abidal and Olympique Lyon remain inseperable !


Not so fast is what Lyon players and oficials seem to be telling Barca's Eric Abidal, as the French entourage storm Barcelona few months after their player Abidal left for the same destination. French star Eric Abidal left Olympique Lyon a few months ago. Now, the Barca defender has to come face-to-face with his old clubmates and officials once again, this time in the far away Spain and in the colours of FC Barcelona. Abidal is uneasy about this, but knows he still has to stand up to it and rise to the occassion:

I don’t like playing my ex-team. That’s only normal. However, I'll approach the game like any other game. Winning the Champions League is important and any player would like to lift it. It is best we focus on the game tomorrow and not worry yet about what might happen in later rounds.

Abidal also sheds more light on Lyon's raving player, Benzema, who along with Juninho, are expected to cause problems for Barca:

Benzema is a great player. He got the chance to show his quality when Fred was out injured, he is a more mature player now.

The Blaugrana strongman is also quick to show solidarity to his coach, Frank Rijkaard, who he's standing by no matter the odds. The Barca defender defends his coach and manager:

They always criticise the manager the most, but Rijkaard is working so that the group can work well, and I think that if anything needs criticism it’s the team as a whole. We are a group, the manager too, but if things go badly, the manager gets the criticism.