The fact that Eric Abidal started the 2011 Champions League final was remarkable.
Only 71 days after being operated on to have tumour removed from his liver, the Frenchman started alongside his Barcelona teammates as they faced Manchester United at Wembley.
Barca breezed past United that night. Despite Wayne Rooney cancelling out Pedro’s opener to leave the scores level at half time, goals from Lionel Messi and David Villa sealed a 3-1 win for the Spanish club as a dominant second half saw Pep Guardiola’s side win their fourth European Cup.
Reflecting on that night in a new book about Andres Iniesta, Abidal recalls how ‘angry’ United’s players were as they struggled to win and keep possession in the final half hour of the match.
“The thing I remember most about that final is the last half an hour. The English players were angry, really furious, because we had turned Wembley into a huge rondo and there was nothing they could do about it.”
“They kept swearing, shouting everything under the sun. It was incredible. Some of my team-mates couldn’t understand them, but I could. ‘That’s enough, stop fucking about. We’re dead. And there are still twenty-five minutes left!’”
“Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, (Sergio) Busquets, (Dani) Alves, who was practically a midfielder that day, kept going: pim-pam, pim-pam, pim-pam.”
Abidal, a former French international, remained with Barcelona for a further two seasons before leaving for Monaco. He later joined Olympiacos but retired in December 2014.
