Guardiola ready to call on Iniesta and Henry for United challenge

By George Burns May 26, 2009, 18:46 GMT

Rome - Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola is confident that he will be able to call on the services of Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry for Wednesday's Champions League final against Manchester United.

Henry has been struggling with a knee ligament problem since the beginning of May while Iniesta, the goalscoring hero against Chelsea in the semi-final, is battling with a thigh strain for the last two weeks.

Despite their problems in the run-up to the final, both players made the trip to Rome and took part in Barca's final training session at the Stadio Olimpico Tuesday evening.

'Today is the last training session and we will see their condition. I think they will be there tomorrow,' said Guardiola. 'We are confident.'

Barcelona have already secured a domestic league and cup double and are looking to become the first Spanish team to manage this particular treble.

'Its been a great season but it can still finish badly,' said the 38-year-old Guardiola, who confessed that he had surpassed his own expectations by bringing Barca to the verge of completing the historic feat in his first season in charge of the Catalan giants.

'I've been very lucky to have a squad of players who are very good technically and tactically,' he said.

'It's true that we've had a good season but there is still a lot to do.'

Earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo claimed that United, who have just claimed a third Premier League title in succession, were the better team than Barca but Guardiola refused to rise to the bait, diplomatically calling his opponents a 'marvelous team' while also praising his own players.

'United have won so many leagues in recent years because they are a fantastic attacking force but they are also strong in defence.

'They have (Wayne) Rooney and Ronaldo but they are strong in all positions,' he said.

'I don't have a method (of how to beat them), I have the players and I think that is the key to everything. I wouldn't be in Rome without the players.'

With both teams having wrapped up their domestic titles over a week before Wednesday's match, Guardiola felt the omens were good for a competitive clash, not like his time as a player when Barcelona lost 4-0 to AC Milan in the 1994 Champions League final.

'We lost in Athens against Milan for two reason,' he said. 'Firstly, they were very strong and secondly we had won the title three days earlier, while they had done it 10 days earlier so had more time to prepare.'

Guardiola felt that Barca team lacked the necessary concentration for winning a Champions League title but this time around things were different.

'Here we have had a bit more time to prepare and so I think we have arrived with the right state of mind and are ready psychologically and can give 100 per cent and win the game,' he said.

'I think that throughout this season we have shown that we are capable of. We are convinced that we are capable of winning this game.'