Champions League - Barcelona vs Chelsea

[Damiano]

This new Chelsea is back to its best.  Their new manager knows what they can and can't do.  Old manager tried to play posession ball but Chelsea doesn't have the midfield for that.

Now they're back to defending, booting the ball, and counter attacking.  Drogba will be essential now that they're going to the target man so much and playing off him.  Chelsea will finish the season strong, no doubt.

Barca should win at home though.  Anything can happen and 1-0 is a hell of a result for Chelsea.  I see Barca winning 2:0 or 3:1 at home.

Gonna be a great 2nd leg.

 

Don't count on it Adi! you may be surprised, its far from certain, plus no away goals for barca :D
FA cup and UCL for chelsea!!! roberto di matteo <3

[Adi]

Yeah, it's not gonna be easy and Chelsea have done a lot for themselves after that first leg.  Barca still dominated.  Can't take that away.

[Adi]

Alexis Sanches and Pedro barely played this weekend against Madrid, and Fabregas didn't even get on the pitch.

Where's Pique?

Are they resting all of them for Chelsea?

[jabarinho]

Pique is not being rested. He is benching because Mascherano is playing very well at centre-back and Pique made a few mistakes in league matches recently.

Cesc??? I'm not sure why he didn't play vs madrid

[Adi]

Just read an article about Pique being professional about the whole situation.  He just wants the team to win he says.

Gonna be interesting.  I'd choose Pique over Masherano any day.  Barca was winning everything with him as the core of the defense, with or without Puyol.  Now that Masherano is in the mix, things haven't been the same.  You just can't get the same out of a defensive mid in defense as you can out of a world class center back.

[Royal Freakiness]

2nd leg = 2-2
 

[Adi]

Yeah, it's not gonna be easy and Chelsea have done a lot for themselves after that first leg.  Barca still dominated.  Can't take that away.

Pretty much sums it up again.

Barcelona completely dominated the game but couldn't crack the 10 Chelsea defenders.

Chelsea did brilliantly to defend, especially when they went down to 10 men.  Drogba has to be given credit.  Although he gave up a penalty, he did a fantastic job throughout the game to come back and defend.

Terry deserved that red.  I'm glad the refs caught it.

As usual, Barca dominated and deserved to win, but credit has to be give to Chelsea for their hard work and organization. 

Now Bayern just has to take care of business tomorrow.  Gonna be a good one again.   Today's game was pure entertainment from the first minute.

[Damiano]

For me Drogba didn't derserve the penalty against him, just no will to stay on his feet by fabregas, who knew he would get a penalty because uefa like barca. Justly it missed due to Messi, many commentators plauded cech for putting him off

this is one thing in football i never understand. for sure its a mistake by john terry, we're all human and his brain snapped, but a red card! its like beckham vs argentina, such little contact, barely a push, but the theatrics of sanchez mean its a red(also uefa ofcourse) - in real life you wouldn't go down screaming like a sword had been thrust through your heart if i nudged you with my knee. but this is barca! People should stop treating terry as a villain and forgeting the good things he does

Barca didn't derserve to win at all, if they derserved to win they wouldnt have let their pisspoor defence leak two goals. possession isn't the means of scoring, goals is. Chelsea took their chances, barca didn't, so chelsea derserve to win

todays game was one of the best football games that i ever saw. Ramires scored a beautiful chip, which gave my team the hope to overcome not only the suipposed best team in a generation but alsdo the european football government. When Torres popped up out of nowhere and slotted home into  empty net i ran around my lounge screaming! almost like a one direction fan but more manly. one of the nicest moments ever. the way everyone on the team gave 100% tot the cause is an inspiration.
man of the match: Petr Cech or Branislav Ivanovic

personally i hope we verse Bayern Munich, as the team, now weakened by the uincessant yellowcard waving of uefa, could have a bit of trouble what with mourinho - but after the way they nailed the barca coffin, anywthing is possible!
 
finally, i'd like to say, fuck you barcelona! qatar is not catalunya!
Blue is the colour!

[jabarinho]

"to overcome the best team in a generation but also the european football government"  lollz. Nice post Damiano.

[Adi]

For me Drogba didn't derserve the penalty against him, just no will to stay on his feet by fabregas, who knew he would get a penalty because uefa like barca. Justly it missed due to Messi, many commentators plauded cech for putting him off

It was a pen.  Drogba should never have gone down lazily into the slide tackle.  Stupid decision on his part and smartly played by Fab.  You would've taken it if Drogba got it on the other end.  Nothing wrong with what happened.

this is one thing in football i never understand. for sure its a mistake by john terry, we're all human and his brain snapped, but a red card!

Again, it was a red card.  Very deserving of one.  Don't defend Terry's stupidity in this situation.  There is no room for this crap in football, and Terry got what he deserved.  Stuff like this gets overlooked a lot because players are more sneaky about it.  He got caught and admitted that it was wrong.  If you get caught for elbowing, grabbing someone's balls, poking an eye, or kneeing someone... it's a red.  Fact.

Barca didn't derserve to win at all, if they derserved to win they wouldnt have let their pisspoor defence leak two goals. possession isn't the means of scoring, goals is. Chelsea took their chances, barca didn't, so chelsea derserve to win.

Barca is heads and shoulders above any other world-class team.  No denying that.  They do wish they could win with possession though.  They do win with possession 99% of the time.  This was somewhat of a fluke and Chelsea did what they had to do to win.  Barca is quality but as you said, they didn't create enough chances, but could anyone against a 11 man defense.  There were times when Chelsea had all 11 players on the edge of the penalty box.  It's much easier for me to argue that Chelsea plays no football and doesn't deserve to be in the final, than to say Barca didn't deserve the win.

todays game was one of the best football games that i ever saw. Ramires scored a beautiful chip

Wonderful goal from the starting run to the finish.  Props to Ramires!

man of the match: Petr Cech or Branislav Ivanovic

Unfortunately, Ivanovic is out of the final.  Check this clip... he looks like he's about to cry when the reporter reminds him of his yellow.

Sky Sports Geoff Shreeves crushes Chelsea's Ivanovic on live TV

[Damiano]

When i saw this i thought Drogba got enough on the ball to say it is a legit tackle, Fabregas made a meal out of it ofcourse, and uefa awards the penalty! if it went on the other end, there would be no penalty because the referee is under control of uefa to not awards such things
ok its bad what he did, but i get frustrated to see how football has devolved alot to players tactically falling over to gain freekicks, even with chelsea players, so many times they go down easy, sometimes it legit but you know they can get out of the way so many times! if i did this with the force terry used on snachez in real life you wouldn't go down wailing, the same as if i headbutted the chest (like zizou) noone falls over like this - i hope you understand what i mean, i don't think what terry did was right ofc, just that generally football loses some reputation due to the dramatics of footballers

this is key, barca did create enough chances, they just didn't take them! and chelsea did! the ballon d'or player missed a penalty - how many chances do you want
chelsea never had 11 players on the edge of the box, just cech is always back :D
maybe barca should have practiced clinical shooting more, then they might have got a shot in

listen to mourinho today: those who say chelsea don't derserve it, know nothing - the effort required to hold of this team, who ahs scored more goals than anyone else, then take the 2 chances on goal they got in the whole game is exceptional - they derserve it you can't deny!

i don't understand how the reporter can be so heartless, does he think ivanovic is such a fob(fresh off the boat) that he doesn't understand - ofc not, but he is lacking a certain humanity - ivanovic is a hero and him and terry will own lpool in fa cup!
chelsea for the title!

[Adi]

Oh they definitly deserve credit for "stopping" Barca... it's a huge feat, but it was still done in ugly fashion and Barca is still miles ahead of them in quality.

I hope Bayern puts Chelsea back in it's place...