Barca's Pique admits to handball

Gerard Pique has admitted he did touch the ball with his hand as Barcelona qualified for the Champions League final.

However, he insisted it was not deliberate. 

Guus Hiddink's men seemed destined for a date with Manchester United on the back of Michael Essien's early wonder goal at Stamford Bridge, but Barca struck back in stoppage time with a goal from Andres Iniesta to seal a 1-1 draw on the night and an away-goals aggregate win.

After the game the Chelsea players were incensed by a number of decisions by referee Tom Ovrebo, one when the ball struck Pique's arm inside the area for what appeared a clear penalty.

The former Manchester United man told Sky Sports 2: "To be fair the ball touched my hand but I didn't want to touch it.

"The ref can decide what he wants and he decided not to say it was a penalty and you have to respect the decisions.

"Sometimes the decision is wrong but I am just happy to qualify for the final.

"The other things we cannot control."

Champions League Wednesday in pics!

Chelsea dominated proceedings this evening and life was made even tougher for the visitors when Eric Abidal was dismissed, harshly, in the 66th minute.

"At one point in the game it was really hard when we had 10 men and they were attacking but finally in the last minute we scored a goal and I have no words to describe how happy is the team," he added.

"I think a team like this cannot go 180 minutes without scoring a goal. It was in the last minute but it was enough to qualify for the final."

Pique admitted it would be "special" to face Manchester United in the final, but insisted it was more important just to be there.

"It means a lot, but more because we are in the final," he said. "Okay it is against Man Utd and it will be special for me because I had three years, which were really good for me, there.

"It was really good for me to get experience and it will be special."