The First Taste of German Brew: Fine, Just a Little Sour

Tonight's was not exactly "Wow!" football; but from Chelsea's perspective, it was a professionally appropriate performance until the Dutch referee, who'd had a good game up till then, decided to award a 92nd minute penalty when he wasn't sure. The fact is if he really saw it, he would have been booking Ballack for a blatant dive, rather than awarding a penalty against us. In the end, that left a sour taste in the mouth even with our traditional four goals well-registered against another top-notch opponent.

The 4th minute Joe Cole deflected goal was down mostly to luck. He really didn't strike the ball as he would have wanted; in fact it was going wide before poor Lucio inadvertently deflected it into his own net. But before one could begin to think the goal was going to be great for Chelsea's confidence, since it was supposed to help the boys settle down (especially with Mourinho not on the bench), the Germans began to show they weren't at Stamford Bridge for sightseeing. From then on, their possession football was in full view, including some brilliant counter-attacking displays and Chelsea were making uncharacteristic errors in defence. One such error -- Johnson's attempted chest-down and stumble -- had me diving for cover, but Ze Roberto let us off! The only top-draw defending from our side in the first half I can remember is Terry's magnificent smothering of a Ballack shot aiming for our open net in the 7th minute.

We attempted to play with width, so as to stretch the Bayern back four (something Arsenal did not do against them), but we weren't disciplined enough to sustain it, though I'll say Joe Cole did try his best in the circumstances before he was substituted later in the game. Makelele had his hands full in the middle, but his response was splendid. He kept coming up with some inventive passes and break-ups that had me smiling approvingly. But generally, Bayern put a lot of pressure on us and we got caught in possession a lot more times than usual. Though Drogba was clearly winning the ball 10-15 yards from their goal area, sometimes his choices and passes were let-downs -- not necessarily because he wasn't trying, more because of the pressure on him from Lucio, Kovac and Sagnol.

Ironically, one of the best Chelsea moves of the game came in the 46th minute in a beautiful cameo of one-touch football -- with Drogba quickly passing it from the right to Gudjohnsen, who found the advancing Duff whose goal-bound shot (having beaten Kahn) got cleared by Sagnol -- only for the Germans to find our net in the 51st minute through their substitute, the promising Schweinsteiger. It came from one of those defensive errors by Gallas who sloppily gave away a free-kick on the edge of the area and even as Cech did well to save from Ze Roberto's shot, the rebound found the young German who delivered a clinical finish, with Terry actually playing him onside. Thereafter, it seemed we lost our head a bit -- Makelele received a yellow for protesting too much about the Bayern wall not moving back enough when we won a free-kick, Drogba and Duff tried a trick with the free-kick which was a damp squib really; and then, just then, in the 59th minute, came an atypical Chelsea goal. Drogba rose above everyone in the German area and knocked down the ball for Lampard who met it with his weaker left foot and scored!

By this time, it was becoming clear that Drogba's power and aggression was beginning to wear down the German defence. Also Chelsea had realised that there was no use playing the ball on the ground all the time, trying to get our passing game together against a team that was that good in holding up the ball themselves. We therefore resorted to a much more sophisticated version of the long ball forward for Drogba, who then began to make successful runs beyond the Bayern defence, causing them all sorts of problems. We were also now growing more confident with possession in the midfield, a fact that began to rattle them. Their frustration saw young Schweinsteiger finally get a well-deserved yellow for a foul against Lampard. Also, by this time, when we lost the ball, unlike most of the first half, we were doing a better job of contesting it and harrying them, without losing our discipline and or our shape. Though I was a little worried when Huth came in for Johnson (with Gallas and Carvalho already on yellows), he seemed to add some spine to the defence and was very economical with the ball. Even as he went on the offensive a few times, he didn't compromise his defensive duties.

In the 69th minute came the pick of the bunch -- Lampard's second goal. He caught Makelele's pass with his body, then turned to meet it with his weaker left and acrobatically finished it off with a half-volley. What technique! What beauty! To score two goals and such a brilliant one with his weaker left foot spells trouble for Chelsea's future opponents -- a glorious sight indeed! But this seemed to have stung Bayern into action. The largely disappointing Ze Roberto gave way to Scholl and the Germans kept coming forward. We went through a patch of desperate defending from the 72nd to the 80th minute, before Drogba capped a very efficient Chelsea display with another well-worked goal. It was actually Huth who created the chance from a header (from a corner) which dropped for Gudjohnsen whose harried shot was stopped by Kahn, but the rebound found Drogba who chose his spot cleverly -- great finish and well-deserved.

In all, it was an impressive Chelsea display, even if not vintage. I think we unnecessarily gave away too many dangerous dead ball situations in this game, I just hope we can work on this for the return leg. As for that 92nd minute penalty for Bayern, what it does is to change the complexion of the second leg. I was convinced that with 4-1 we were going to go there to put up an impressive defensive display to frustrate the Germans, but with that second goal, our best bet is to again go out there and engage in another attacking enterprise. As I said at the beginning, I thought the referee had a good game until that penalty. He obviously wasn't sure, but then reacted to Ballack's over-the-top theatrics. Here was a big man supposedly being tugged, but who then fell forward instead of backward! It was the 92nd minute for God's sake! If you aren't sure, especially considering the time, you give the benefit of doubt to the defender.

The Germans can count themselves lucky tonight, but whatever hope that luck holds for them will be quickly extinguished in their backyard next week.

C'mon Chelsea!

by Kenn Emetulu

*Related links:*

* Chelsea anger at 'diving' Ballack * No Uefa probe for Mourinho * Chelsea in the clear * Kahn: Drogba is one of best :+DROGBA+ONE+OF+BEST&channel=Premiership * Frank and friends get Jose's message * Mourinho splendid in isolation * Bayern's Huth frustration * Referee saw no illegality at Chelsea * Ballack 'dive' raises stakes for Chelsea * Mourinho likely to escape as Uefa keeps suspicions under its hat * Message to Mourinho: mind the gap * Jose not concerned by ban * Chelsea more than one man banned * Jacquet: Chelsea can do it * Lampard stirs the blood