KOBE, Japan: Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta is looking forward to taking on his former teammates when his Vissel Kobe meets Barcelona this weekend for a friendly, saying Friday the face-off will be “an honor.”
The match Saturday in the Japanese city of Kobe will be a reunion of sorts, with Barcelona’s current line-up facing ex-teammates Iniesta, David Villa and Sergi Samper, all now Vissel players.
It will be the first time Iniesta has met his former team on the pitch.
“We all feel that it is such an honor to play Barca,” Iniesta told reporters through a Japanese translator.
“The team, Barcelona, is special... It will be a very important match for us,” he said.
World Cup-winning Iniesta, who lifted 32 major trophies with Barcelona, signed for Kobe last May in a historic J-League deal worth a reported $30 million a year. The 34-year-old was appointed the team’s captain in April.
The friendly is Barca’s last match in Japan before they head home, and midfielder Sergio Busquets said the chance to meet Iniesta on the pitch “means a lot” to the players.
“Now he is in Japan and having new experiences. But it does not change the fact that he is a very important friend still,” Busquets said.
“Now I am giving him these kind words, but tomorrow on the pitch I won’t be able to be like this. We will fight with full strength.”
The match comes after Chelsea defeated Barcelona 2-1 in their friendly in Saitama north of Tokyo earlier this week in a game that saw the unofficial debuts of World Cup-winning French striker Antoine Griezmann and former Ajax midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
Manager Ernesto Valverde said he wanted to see the new arrivals getting used to playing with the team and hoped for a better result for Saturday’s match.
“I’m sure you saw the game the other day, in which they both played. I want them to play better than that with other players,” he said.
Defender Gerard Pique will not play on Saturday as a precaution due to discomfort in his left thigh, Valverde said.
Iniesta’s signing was viewed as a timely boost to the J-League, which once attracted luminaries such as Brazilian great Zico and former England striker Gary Lineker when it began in 1993 but has struggled to tempt marquee players in recent years.
Iniesta ready for face-off against ex-team Barcelona
Iniesta ready for face-off against ex-team Barcelona
- “We all feel that it is such an honor to play Barca,” says the World Cup-winning Spaniard
- Iniesta signed for Kobe last May
Sara Collins ready for world title matchup with Cris Cyborg at PFL Lyon
- Australian fighter overcomes the jokes to step into the ring with American-Brazilian MMA icon
DUBAI: When Sara Collins began her mixed martial arts career in 2019, the prospect of getting to step into the cage against Cris Cyborg was a seemingly impossible dream, so much so that it became a punchline.
“We used to joke about it in the gym all the time,” Collins said. “We’re like ‘Come on, we’re training to one day fight and beat Cris Cyborg’ and I’d be like ‘Yeah, yeah, ha ha ha, it’s never going to happen.’”
Fast-forward six years later, Collins is a few days out from actually living out what was once an inside joke in the gym. The former judoka-turned-undefeated mixed-martial artist will be facing the women’s MMA icon for the PFL Women’s Featherweight Championship at PFL Lyon this coming Saturday, Dec. 13 at the LDLC Arena in Lyon, France.
“Definitely, I think anyone who fights Cyborg, it’s the biggest fight of their career,” said the 6-0 Collins, who understands the magnitude of the upcoming challenge. Perhaps what makes this opportunity even sweeter is that she herself campaigned for this matchup about a year ago.
“I asked for this fight a year ago, and I’m so happy that it’s finally happening,” the Australian said. “It’s been a long time waiting for it, and yeah, I’m really excited for the opportunity. I’m not cutting any corners, I’m taking this opportunity with, like, everything I’ve got, and I’m gonna really make the most of it.”
Grappling is Collins’s strong suit, but against Cyborg, she’ll be taking on one of the most devastating strikers in MMA, not just the women’s division. In her 28 career fights, Cyborg has won 21 by KO or TKO, and Collins is definitely keeping that in mind when it comes to her preparations.
“Well, I’ve definitely been working on keeping my hands up a lot more, but other than that, we’ve kind of kept my fight preparation similar to every other fight,” Collins said, adding that the only difference so far is that this time around, she will be competing in a five-rounder.
“It is a bit harder, just because we are fighting for potentially five rounds, so the cardio and fitness side has been longer, the rounds have been longer, and more intense, but other than that, we’ve kept it pretty similar to all my other fights.”
More than just getting to face a legend like Cyborg, Collins also has the opportunity to take home some gold.
“To be honest, sometimes I forget that it’s for a world title, because I’m just concentrating on fighting Cris Cyborg,” Collins said. “She’s at the forefront of my focus, and then at the end of the day, when I win, I get to take a shiny belt home as a prize, but really, I’m just focused on fighting Chris, but getting a world title is pretty cool that it comes with that.”
It will not be an easy task though — Cyborg has won her past eight contests. Still, Collins predicts that it is going to be a fight that fans will not want to miss.
“I think it’s gonna be a fast, exciting fight,” Collins said. “One of us is gonna win in the first or second round.”
Collins vs. Cyborg will be the co-main event on a stacked PFL Lyon card, headlined by a PFL heavyweight world championship bout between Vadim Nemkov and Renan Ferreira. Also on the card, Patrick Habirora faces Kevin Jousset in a welterweight bout, while Taylor Lapilus meets Liam Gittins in a bantamweight matchup.
