http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ibrahim-Afellay-c16547 ecstatic after playing decisive role in victory over Real Madrid - UEFA Champions League
Barcelona midfielder c*m winger, Ibrahim Afellay has expressed his delight after playing a decisive role in his team’s win over arch-rivals, Real Madrid. The 25-year-old made whole lot of a difference after coming on as a substitute in the second half for
Pedro Rodriguez.
He was talking after Barcelona registered an important 2-0 win over Real Madrid when the two rivals contested the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final on Wednesday, April 27 at the Bernabeu.
Afellay was ecstatic upon his feat and received a lot of applause from his teammates and fans. The youngster made a cameo appearance from the bench in the 71st minute when both teams were locked at 0-0. The Dutch international used his pace to
some good effect, and within his five minutes of arrival on the pitch, created an opportunity for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 to score in the 76th minute.
That goal opened up the game and soon the Catalan giants were fuelled in with confidence, which eventually resulted in Barca’s second goal in the 87th minute.
The winger seemed extremely happy and almost ran out of words to describe his emotions. He then gathered his thoughts and in an interview to a local newspaper, the 25-year-old mentioned, "This really is an incredible feeling. This is the kind of stuff you
dream about when you're a kid. Making the difference in such a huge game between two arch rivals is simply fantastic. It was a nice individual action."
Afellay landed at Camp Nou in 2011 after serving http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/PSV-c40281 Eindhoven for eight years. Since making his debut against Athletic Bilbao on January 5, the Dutchman has managed to make 11 League appearances for the club so far and is yet to open his account in the
La Liga. He also has 31 appearances under his belt for the Dutch national side to go along with his three goals.
Afellay hoped that Barcelona would continue their winning form and concluded, "Altogether, we put in a good performance. We were already the better team before Pepe's dismissal and enjoyed a lot of possession. We didn't let them provoke us and picked up
a superb result."
Josep Guardiola’s side will now host Real Madrid on Tuesday, May 3 at the Camp Nou, where the semifinal’s second-leg is due to take place.
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