“It means a lot,” Pique said on Sky Sports. “It will be special because I had three good years there, maybe I didn’t play a lot but they were important years for me.”

Chelsea were furious with referee Tom Henning Ovrebo after he turned down four penalty appeals, including a handball from Pique.

“To be fair, it touched my hands but it was not deliberate,” Pique added. “The referee can decide what he wants and you have to respect the decisions. Sometimes they are wrong.

“I’m just happy that I’m through to the final.”

Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba also claimed they were fouled in the area, while Samuel Eto’o also handled but Ovrebo did not point to the spot.

It meant Chelsea headed into stoppage-time with just Michael Essien on the scoresheet before Iniesta found the top corner to spark manic celebrations.

“There are no words to describe how happy the team is,” Pique added. “A team like this, trying to attack all the time, cannot go 180 minutes without scoring. It was in the last minute but it was enough.”

With Chelsea leading Barcelona had Eric Abidal sent-off for a professional foul on Nicolas Anelka and boss Pep Guardiola was surprised that opposite number Guus Hiddink did not then try to kill the game with a second.

“They created chances on the counter-attack but they were conservative,” he said. “We showed a lot of strength and bravery and hung on.

“It was difficult to play against Chelsea 11 against 11 and we played 11 against 10. I can understand the feeling of Chelsea because they had Rome there and in the last minute we can take it.”

Barcelona will be without Dani Alves for the final after the full-back picked up a yellow card to trigger a suspension.

“He was happy that he played all the games this season,” Guardiola added.