Andrés Iniesta hoping for reunion with Cesc Fábregas at Barcelona

Posted Wednesday, July 14, 2010 by theguardian.com

Cesc Fábregas, left, and Andrés Iniesta embrace during celebrations after combining for Spain's World Cup winning goal.

Andrés Iniesta today reiterated his desire to be reunited with Cesc Fábregas at Barcelona next season after the two players combined to win the World Cup for Spain on Sunday.

With just four minutes of extra-time remaining in the final against Holland, the substitute Fábregas picked out Iniesta in the area and the Barça midfielder slotted home to give Spain their first World Cup triumph.

The Catalan giants are keen to sign the Arsenal captain and have already had one £30m bid turned down by Arsenal this summer, but Iniesta, who spent several years with Fábregas in Barça's youth team, hopes to be able to link up with him at Camp Nou next season.

"Let's hope so. Everybody has come out and spoken of the desire we have for him to be with us next season. We would be delighted. Not just because he is a team-mate and a friend, but because it would be great for the club," he said today.

"His arrival would give us a huge jump up in quality and he would play his part to help us stay up there competing in the big competitions. We would love him to be here."

Fábregas was pictured in a Barcelona shirt following a practical joke by several of his team-mates at Spain's celebrations in Madrid yesterday.

The Barça defenders Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué were the instigators, forcing the shirt over their Spain team-mate's head with the collaboration of the Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

The mild-mannered Iniesta, though, says he had nothing to do with the prank. "It wasn't anything to do with me – it was the other two [Puyol and Piqué] who carried out the joke," he said.

"He is my team-mate and my friend and I wish him the best, and if he comes, we will all be delighted."

Iniesta also relived the moment of the World Cup final when he received the ball from Fábregas to score the most important goal of his career to date.

"It is one of the most beautiful feelings that a person can experience," he said. "I was just waiting for the pass from Cesc, who was looking phenomenal. It came very quickly and I was so alone [in the area] that I thought I was offside.

"But I controlled it well and when I hit it I knew it had to go in because going to penalties would have been terrible."