Barça 0 Chelsea 0
Tuesday, 28 April 09, 01:27 PM · Comments (68)
For the second season running an English team came to Camp Nou for a Champions League semi-final and managed to frustrate us completely. Chelsea rarely looked to attack but they defended well and generally limited Barça to shots from outside the area which rarely troubled Petr Cech. Barça's substitutes Bojan Krkic and Alexandr Hleb both had chances to score a vital goal near the end but without luck. The tie will now be decided at Stamford Bridge where Barça will have to make do without Carles Puyol who will be suspended and Rafa Marquez who looks like missing the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Chelsea started the game well and even put a good move together after four minutes when Malouda who had an epic battle throughout the game with Dani Alves, got past the full back crossed to Essien who played it straight to Lampard who hit it first time from 25 yards but the ball went wide. It was the only time in the entire game that Chelsea created a chance through good football. Barça slowly began to find their way as Iniesta began to show his skill, Henry was also causing Ivanovic problems on the left. Chelsea were reduced to defending deeply and playing long hopeful long balls up to Drogba who was controlled well by Marquez and Piqué. Messi was not having much luck against Bosingwa but in the 17th minute he invented a great pass through to Alves but Alves's dangerous cross was cut out. Unfortunately this was to be an ongoing problem as our crosses failed to reach the target.
Xavi had problems to get involved due to the man marking of John Mikel Obi. However, in the 18th minute he managed to get forward to deliver a nice lay-off to Eto'o who turned on the edge of the box but shot wide. In the 24th minute Abidal sent a great ball up the line to Henry who broke into the area but had to wait for support giving the defence time to close him down. The referee could have given yellow cards to Alex for a foul on Marquez and Bosingwa for one on Messi, finally the cards came out when Alex this time fouled Messi and then Ballack got a card for a studs-up foul on Henry. Later Toure got a yellow card for protesting the ref's lenience after another foul on Iniesta.
We began to shoot more but from distance, Thierry Henry forced a couple of saves from Cech but neither were difficult. Then in the 39th minute we nearly blew it all when Marquez made a hash of a back pass allowing Drogba a clear sight of goal, fortunately the striker shot hard but close to Valdés and the keeper managed to block, the ball came back to Drogba who tried to flick the ball over Valdés who had to react brilliantly to intervene.
Barça came back and we were extremely unlucky when Iniesta released Eto'o for a run on goal but the linesman incorrectly flagged offside. Abidal then again sent a good ball to Henry who got into the box but got his feet tied up, and then on the stroke of half time Iniesta drove one from 30 yards but Cech was behind it all the way.
The second half started similarly to the first half with Chelsea looking to attack for the first five minutes. Alves was dicing with a yellow card as Malouda succeeded in winding him up, and in the 47th minute he was close to receiving a booking when he wrestled with the Chelsea winger on the edge of the box. It was Chelsea's only free kick in a dangerous position but they came close as Ballack flicked his header just over.
We then had five minutes when the Barça physio had to come on three times. First Henry got a whack on the head and although he played on his influence on the game decreased after the knock, a couple of minutes later Marquez went down with nobody near him, he seemed to twist his knee and was obviously in a lot of pain; the first reports say it is an injury to the meniscus which will see him out for quite a while. Alves and Xavi also took knocks but played on with no problems but the stoppages did not help our rhythm.
However, we did start to look more dangerous, Piqué sent a great long ball to Alves sprinting in but at that speed the control with the chest was impossible and Cech came out to save. Soon after Alves forced another save bursting into the box while Drogba was down injured, but generally Chelsea were getting in the way of the final pass. In the 69th minute we finally created a clear chance, Eto'o turned Alex brilliantly on the half way line and broke past Terry, Eto'o held off Alex as he stormed into the area then cut inside past the defender but his final shot was stopped by Cech with his outstretched leg.
However, Chelsea were not affected and showed no signs of weakening. the ref might have given us a penalty but he preferred to ignore the pull back on Henry's shoulder as Henry tried to turn. Puyol was booked and was lucky not to see a second for a foul on Malouda, but if we see that Chelsea committed 20 fouls and Barça only 7, Chelsea cannot complain at the 2-2 draw with yellow cards. Ballack was also let off a second yellow for a foul on Iniesta.
Bojan and Hleb came on near the end and they both had a chance to win the game. In the 90th minute Alves finally got a cross to the target but Bojan headed over from only four yards out. Perhaps the cross was just to high for Bojan which may explain why he didn't score. Then three minutes into injury time Hleb was put through but Cech was out quickly to block, the ball came back to Hleb but he sliced his shot wide from a tight angle.
It is obviously not a good result but we are definitely not out of it either. If we score at Stamford Bridge then a draw will see us go through. However, it was a very frustrating night as Chelsea did an excellent job in defence although they had to renounce their attack to do so. At Stamford Bridge it is difficult to believe that Chelsea can play in the same way, but we shall see. The fact that we will have a makeshift defence (Alves, Caceres, Pique, Abidal ?) may encourage them to attack a bit more. It is incredible that after such an amazing season two draws can suddenly complicate things so much; we will now need two heroic performances at the Bernabeu and Stamford Bridge to put things back in place.
Unfortunately today our forwards did not have their day, only Iniesta of our "stars" caused Chelsea real problems. We can be happy with the performances from Piqué, Toure, Abidal and Valdes. Our defence will be tested more over the next eight days, it is good to see some solid games from these players. However,when the defences rule then football is the loser, let's hope that football wins next week.
Barça: Valdés 7.5; Alves 6, Marquez 5.5 (Puyol m52, 5.5), Piqué 8, Abidal 7.5; Xavi 6, Toure 7.5, Iniesta 7.5; Messi 5.5, Eto'o 6.5 (Bojan m82, 5.5), Henry 6 (Hleb m87, 5.5).
Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Bosingwa; Essien, Ballack (Anelka m95), Mikel, Lampard (Belletti m71), Malouda; Drogba.
Yellow cards: m25 Alex, m29 Ballack, m37 Toure, m74 Puyol,
Attendance: 95,231
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68 Comments · Add yours
frustrating must be the one word.
wtf has happened with Messi? two bad games in a row isn't a good sign before el Clásico.
Well Nic the way I see it is Puyol will rest the second match and play in the final. Chelsea just showed Barca How scared they are. I never saw such a match where 10 players of the other side are in there own box all the time. I see no lose today. My only concern is last year but that could be to our advantage as the team could learn from Last year ! Also The ref was complete joke !
dont really know what to say
the players tried but i think they need to understand the amount of effort they need to beat these so-called cowardly, 'big teams'...for us to win our best players need to be in inspired form...
which wasnt the case...the only positive was the clean sheet
now, i believe we need to focus all our energy on the getting the spanish double, we CAN leave the ucl for next season where we'll hopefully get to play knockout 2nd leg matches at home, the spanish double should be top priority
i wont be surprised if i dont see the valdes bashers despite another crucial save
i was really impressed with toure and pique and they will definitely be crucial for us for the rest of the season...puyol seems to be making poor decisions of late
another problem was the time our players spent on arguing, i understand it is frustrating but we can only reply to their rough play by succeeding in our mission
henry seemed really tired with his decisions, tot he was rested
messi needs to understand that this will always happen against him at the highest level, i hope he garners more experience from this
i sometimes wish the champs league was jst one leg
first of all..i still hopeful..because...our defense(pique,abidal,toure) was impressive and hopeful thy will be in 2nd leg as well...And chelsea must attack in 2nd leg which will open the game and i strongly believe in a game like that our player can score...
Messi must click in next two games which will be decider of barca's glory this season...
valdez save were simply superb and gave us the hope to go final...
there was no communication at all between henry and eto.....where iniesta was again at his top...and xavi i thing was not bad at all...
Let see what happens...things getting complicated ...
wtf..i don't want to be better than madrid! (we already know that!) i want to be better than those sad little english teams!! we have to pass!! that kind of football chelsea displays (or boxing, or some sort of rugby, whatever) cannot win this!!.
I haven't seen the game and i think i probably won't, for my own sake. But i don't think it's impossible, at all. They have to play a little football to score against us, they will be forced to it..and in the mean time, our attacking players could get more chances. It will be a battle of attacking football (or at least we are going to play like that) and we all know who dominates on that. I do worry for our defense, but all we need is to score once. And they will need two. Valencia scored twice against us but honestly, they are a far better side than chelsea.
And regarding the stadium...we've play and won there, at anfield, in turkey and will win at madrid on saturday. So no pressure, just do our game.
Pique's passing today was
Made me so, so, so nervous. Not starting Puyol down back by Pep to me was a coaching blunder.
Frustrating negative tactics is something we should be good at breaking down by now. The fact is today we seemed to have no plan B. Dissapointing.
All is not lost however, as I firmly believe we will get a result at Stamford Bridge.
I do too, if we not get a ref like today...that racist ****.. no wonder he gave a yellow card to yaya and not to ballack.. i do remember him, he robbed our country (Chile) against Argentina in a under-20 world cup, and provoked that chilean players were blasted brutally by the police..and he also robbed us against OL, and let them kick our players all they wanted..is this the kind of ref the UEFA aure using for the most important club tournament??
I think the game against real madrid will be important. If we beat madrid, the league will be over and we will be so confident which will help us beat chelsea at stamford bridge.
not a horrible result but dissapointing...........if henry could have stayed on a bit longer and he had the same chance bojan had ....it would be in the back of the net
i know i probably shouldnt look ahead of madrid but ........WERE GONNA HAVE TO START CACERESFOR THE SECOND LEG!!!!HOPEFULLY HE WONT MAKE A STUPID MISTAKE LIKE MARQUES DID!!!!
messi has not had a good game since the beating we gave bayern........im sad hopefully he will be back to himself ....starting at madrid....
one good thing is that valdes showed me at times he can be a world class goalie but he is not consistent enough.......
one thing can't be denied; if it weren't for VV today, we'd have a much steeper hill to climb.
he's the only player who took his chance to make a decisive impact on the game. if only those who had chances to score for us had done the same.
disappointed as well. This is the same thing ManU did last season .. one goal separated the teams.
I wonder what could be the plan B? we were attacking .. That quick passing and movement that we saw in seville was missing though .. i guess too many bodies back and no space for that ..
0-0 is not an awful scoreline though .. many top managers leave home happy not conceding an away goal.
we need to draw them out of their hole .. the best way the sub of lampard for belletti in the 75th minute .. hiddink probably thought lampard was being too adventurous.
Chelsea definately didn't come with the intention to attack. In fact I doubt that they will attack in the return leg. They would probably settle for a shoutout and take their chances. I don't think that's something most Barca fans would want to see happen.
I think we can blame ourselves for not putting away some of those clear chances. Eto'o definately should have passed to Henry for a certain goal. It will take something special to beat Cech. I don't know if our players knew that but it sure didn't seem that way. Too many of the shots were directly at him. I thought Messi, Eto'o and Henry were off once again. Does anyone else think Henry is a rhythm killer? He got the ball twice inside the box with just one guy to beat but he waits for support instead of trying to go around and take the shot. Bah maybe he is showing his age. Another one showing his age is Puyol. He's been shaky lately even tonight I thought and was lucky he didn't get another yellow coming behind Malouda.
Anyways after tonights game I'm feeling pessimistic about the return leg.
a really guttless performance from the whole team. For all their attacking prowess they could not muster the confidence to play a little quick, especially in the first half when chelsea were there for the taking. I dont know if there were instructions from pep to slow the game or the team was just scared but the it took an eternity to send the ball to the forwards.
As a Chelsea fan, it's interesting to see the Barca point of view........
Whilst there can be absolutely no doubt that Barca dominated the possession, I didn't really feel that Braca created any clear cut chances until we tired in the last 20 mins and Eto'o, Boban and Hleb had good chances go begging.
Clearly there is a lot of bitterness towards the way Chelsea approached the game on this blog, but did you really expect us to allow your very impressive strike force to have the space you need to attack at will.... It was never going to happen.
Not sure where all the nonsense about 'dirty' Chelsea is coming from... There were no really bad fouls in the game, but when a side defends for 90 minutes, they are always going to have to make tackles.
The ref was fairly consistent throughout and the only debateable decision was the possible penalty appeal, which some referees would have given, but it would have been a very soft penalty if they had.
The 2nd leg will be a very different game... and I have no doubt that Chelsea will score....I do however doubt that we will be able to keep another clean sheet, and so I feel it will be a much more open game.
Best of luck for the return leg.
inu mi dun pupo pelu boolu ti awon barcelona gba lana, nitoripe omu mi le fowosoya pe ao na chelsea ti aba logba idakeji boolu naa ni ile won. puyol lodun miju fun nitori o gbiyanju botile jepe apa keji game naa lo wole, its a bitter game yesterday because all my thought was that the barcelona team should fink in and kiss chelsea in the box but all our shots were save by the dangerous cech
Soccerfan, MAC, greenlight: This game only confirms the fact that spanish clubs are still better than the english clubs with a clear exception of Arsenal who will always play their game even with a 10 goals advantage. You three should get it in your skulls that chelsea will ever need 10(ten) defenders on the pitch to stop barca top 3 world class strikers which inadvertently means by trying the slightest of attacking game at the bridge would mean shortage of DEFENDERS and a 100% possibility of conceding a goal. Mind you cech deform had made him worst than v.v and v.v has an enviable ucl title to his credit which only comes with the experience. Chelsea 've only won barca once in the knockout stage against barca's twice and the last of barca coming the last time we met at stamford bridge(2-1 in barca favour) and we went ahead to lift the title. The game just started and chelsea know that stamford bridge is never the best place for them to aim at any positive result, just remember man utd 3-0 thrashing, liverpools 4-4 draw, arsenal's 1-1 draw with ten men!. Certainly chelsea knw they are out. Barca 4 treble. VIVA BARCA
i thought i would see more negative commentary, its kind of nice not to. honestly, we have never encountered such anti-football negative tactics. and when a team with really good, experienced big players play with 10 men behind the ball, of course we are not going to have chance after chance. to be honest, it was a pretty good performance we put in, considering what we were up against, meaning:
1) CFC should change their name to COWARD Football Club. those tactics were shameful and honestly we gave our best to get past it.
2) Messi unluckily had his worst match ever. I dont think it was because he was outmarked, his touches and passes just didnt come off.
3) I REALLY feel we gave them way too much respect and didnt come at them hard enough. We should have risked a bit more I feel.
Saying all that, 0-0 is not that bad. As titi said elsewhere, its better than 2-1. I have no doubt we can handle stanford bridge, even boss possession there, and SURELY they will have to open up and attack a bit. If anything in the past we have shown we CAN score there.
frankly tonight we actually had enough chances to win. henry had several shots, that true werent great, but we still created a decent opening. first minute, ball flases across the line. etoo's one on one, which yes he should have passed, but he is a striker, they believe in their ability. bojan's header which he really should have scored. hleb at the end, just needed to collect himself, turn, look up and pass in the middle=goal.
just a final note on VV. yes he makes mistakes sometimes, but id just like ALL VV SUPER critics, that harp on his every mis-step to remember tonight. HE SAVED US IN A BIG GAME. yes it was only one save, but if that had gone in, we would prob be out the tie. so im not exaggerating his praises, just saying make a mental note and recall it next time he misses a cross once every 12 games.
at chelsea by the way i rate we go, alves, pique, abidal, sylvinho.
to sat!!
want a good laugh, or a good puke maybe.
look at hiddink's DIRECT QUOTE when asked if his tactics vs us were going to be quite defensive:
"Chelsea has the character not to sit back, it is impossible in this team even if I say to the team "hey guys let's sit back and defend" it is impossible because there is this desire in the team to play football as well"
it is impossible....guess last night was one of miracles then
Great save from Valdes but still not good enough in my book for BarcaQ!!!
I think Pep should have played Henry in the middle after the first half. Eto'o can be very unidimensional.
I can't blame Hleb or Bojan for their misses...the lad are barely playing!!! they need more playing time.You can't keep them on the bench for weeks and put them in big games and then expect miracles.
Iniesta MUST be the best Spanish footballer but Messi is starting to worry me. Xavi seems tired. I am worried about the league, which is what I care about in the first place.
The brits are a JOKE...thi sis NOT football.I won't even waste my time or words on how pitiful CHELSEA's display was...that would simply be a waste of time. The only british team that has shown any interest in playing football away from home is Arsenal...and maybe Liverpool. So, it is what it is and to be honest come what may in London...me da igual!!!
Excuse me while I vent:
I don't watch English football (if you can call it football) even though I have better access to it then any other league.
I really thought Chelsea was going to play football as it is supposed to be played.
Reason I though this was from what I read and heard since Hiddinck as been appointed Chelsea have improved immensely.
I even read quotes from several Chelsea players and the coach himself that they will not go with a defensive approach and will not make the game physical.
Laughable should of known it was a lie, after all only last year Manchester United labeled by the English media as the Brazilians of English football and apparently are better/can rival the great 1982 Brazilian team (I feel a little sick inside)
I remember in a press conference of last year semi final a English journalist told Messi that they will need 11 Messi's on the field to stand a chance (such is the English arrogance)
And we all know how that ended up with C Ronaldo playing as the only forward and you guessed it every player on the pitch went on defense and played like a team that is fighting a relegation battle.
While I am typing this I am reading articles that are claiming it was a big success yesterday, the English really have no shame.
Seriously guys....
There are two aspects to football.... One is attacking, the other defending.... Neither side were good enough to break the other down, and so the game ended in a scoreless draw.
If Chelsea are not good enough to win at home, then Barca will deserve their place in the final... If Chelsea win, they will have done something which Barca didn't manage. And if the game ends in a draw, then Chelsea's lack of endeavour last night will end up costing them!
The tie is only half way through, so let's wait and see what happens next week before Chelsea are painted as the devil incarnate, and Barca as the World's best football team.
It was no surprise that Chelsea played such a negative and defensive football . It was to be expected when your opponent is only interested in avoiding defeat and NOT in playing actual football . All EPL clubs have done this before and have gotten away with it . Guardiola should have known better . Did he really expect Chelsea to play any differently ? He needs to make adjustments upfront . You can't expect to play 3 against 5 in midfield and expect to win the battle . We need one of our attackers to drop and help in midfield . We had two good chances to win the game at the end but we came up short . I wonder if Hleb's miss has sealed his fate as a Barça player and see him leave this summer . Having said that , Barça maybe in a better position than Chelsea . We only need a scoring draw . Chelsea, on the other hand, must win to advance . I would be pissimistic if it came down to penalty kicks though . I have little faith in Valdes and his ability to come through in such circumstanses . I think Madrid would try to use the same tactics that Chelsea used against us only dirtier and more agressively and they will probably get away with it too !!
madrid will kick us around but they have to attack more than chelsea because only a win is good for them so the game will be more open. anyways chelsea still pisses me off, they are only famous now cuz of that russian owner, i bet as soon as he leaves, they will go back to being the club that they used to be.
i dont care what people say if your the best team in the world then you can grind down teams, and barca goin forward lacked that bit of magic. yeah CFC had 10 men behind the ball but barca are amazing when their pressed, shouldn't had been a problem. Sayin english teams are crap well dont agree with that, villa battered by arsenal and madrid done by the scousers. yeah spain might have the best team in the world (no denying that) but england has the toughest league. A sign of a quality team is playing well and gettin results but also playing bad and winning. barca wont have a problem at the bridge it aint the fortress it once was their home record is pathetic compared to previous seasons. 2-0 im giving it,,, iniesta and henry (back in the prem so he's gonna score)...... they will go on to win champions league hands down man u v barca final winner takes all, no defensive football there.... come on
I always believe its nearly impossible break a good teams defence if 10 men behind. But i found many people still think Barca should have broken the defense with a better tactics. I think we have broken the defense quite a number of time from where henry had 2 chances,eto 1,bojan and hleb 1 each. In such a defensive game these number are more than enough. So we should have score at least one from them.
What you guyz think about pep's formation...is there any way or any change in formation or tactics he could have done during the half time when we already sure that chelsea here came not to play just to save the goal line...cz i think he din make significant change after the first half.
Some advice to certain Barca fans:
Ya'll wanted to win the CL by beating the toughest teams. You wanted the English. We got the English. Now that the result isn't what you wanted or boasted would be (4-0??? really???), you start whining about 'cowardly play' and defensive tactics.
Do yourselves a favor and stop it. It's pathetic and immature. It's up to the team to beat the opposition regardless of what tactics they use. Kudoz to Chelsea for keeping us off the scoreboard for 90+ minutes.
Not the best result yesterday, but we didn't concede. And we can definitely score and progress at Stamford Bridge.
I cannot comment anymore.
Eto 1 v 1 and he didnt look up has fuked me off so much. Good to see some people see the positives, but Eto... again... sorry...
2 games to turn a potentially glourious season into either a disaster or one to go down into history. Lets give it all we have including the fans!
Hey guys again !!!!!
All i can say is :
We played vs cowards who didn't managed to leave their own box and around their kepper.
The German refree, chelsea fan, participated in the ame so chelsea played with 12 players last game.
Our forward players were abit tired and selfish esp Etoo .
Messi was indifferent in last night game
But we do believe in our team and i hope that Pep wil deal apropriately with the defence and tactics to decode their defence
Iniesta was great beside Xavi the king
Itri
Guys, we should stop with the coward labeling etc. Chelsea did what they did, and they did it with great success. While it is obviously not pretty, lets just take it as a compliment that they didn't want to play here, and take confidence going to Stamford Bridge that they will HAVE to play if they want to advance.
It's their choice to sit 10 men behind the ball, the bottom line is we should've been good enough to break them down, we didn't do it enough, we missed out chances, 0-0 and all to play for.
Think how satisfying it will be beating them in their own ground.
Time to move onto Madrid now.
Wow that was an exceedingly frustrating game to watch. Chelsea played like cowards, there is no other way to describe it. They did what they thought they had to do in order to survive. They knew that if they tried to play us, even a little, they would have been ripped to shreds. Its the cost of being as good as we are. Some teams will have a bit of pride and at least attempt to get a result, but the English teams have no shame and pride is not a part of their game. They want to win and they dont care how they do it. So they will come and play with 9 or even 10 men behind the ball. We should expect nothing less. We still managed to create several chances and had we been a bit luckier and had our strikers been a little less selfish we might have walked away with a 2 or even a 3 goal margin, but it wasnt to be. That is football my friends.
There are several positives to take away from this game; first we did not concede, which means for every goal we get at Stamford Bridge they will need 2. Second, even with all their men behind the ball we still created several clear cut chances to score. They wont play like this at home, not to that extent anyways, they will have to try and come out to play us a bit.
What I dont get is how the Chelsea players who are all supposed to be world class, playing for a world class team can accept that we are soo much better than them that they have to resort to playing like a relegation threatened team. Surely they must feel that they have enough to match us right? Oh well i guess not. In a way we should take it as a complement. They felt confident enough to go head on with Liverpool, they always go head on with Arsenal and Utd but they wouldnt dare go head on with us.
These games are why we need a big striker in the box. Last night they didnt have to worry about crosses because there is nobody to get on the end of it. Its why Pep was so desperate for a big striker last summer. It would change the dynamics completely. Oh well....
Where are all you Valdes haters???
He did well to deny Drogba , that was something special denying him twice in succession.
It was a tough match, but we should have got something from this game, if our finishing was better, but it just makes the 2nd leg more exciting, and i'm optimistic that we'll get at least a goal.
@ Hilal,
"..they felt confident enough to go head on with Liverpool, they always go head on with Arsenal and Utd but they wouldnt dare go head on with us. "
Good point because NONE of the top four clubs in the EPL would dare to go head on with Barça . Manchester United parked the bus on us last year and the year before Liverpool did the same . Despite all the nonesensical bragging about the dominance of English football we all know better . The fact is that more than 80% of the players in the starting lineups of the so called big four are NOT English . Neither are the coaches or the owners in that matter . They can brag all they want but they know deep inside that they can NOT compete with Barça on a level field or try to play actual football instead of intentionally coming out and taking it on the chin and not be embarrased about it . Afterall it is not how you win that counts to them . It is different at Barça but the reality is totally different matter . So if we want to get titles domestically and in Europe we need to make adjustments in our strategy . One of which is that we can NOT dominate people with three midfielders no matter how good they are when your opponent has five staring you on the other side . The draw that Chelsea achieved against us maybe considered by EPL standards a victory but to Barça fans and football purists a shameful display of anti- football and utter disgrace !!
I have to make one exception on the way some of the EPL clubs play us . I think Arsenal are the ONLY EPL side who have the decency , courage and talent to play football with us without having to resort to trickery or negative tactics . Arsesne Wenger may not be the most popular coach but at least he tries to play football as it is intended to be . Sadly though in his 29+ years of coaching he has NEVER won anything in Europe . Perhaps he needs to make some adjutments in his strategy too !!
Ya...i agree with FCB-Holland...Arsenal is the only big EPL team whom i never saw playing negative football. If man u was there last night..everything would be same as chelsea..but i doubt about Arsenal..i think it would be entrtaining...
One again we get bias treatment from referee's, Puyol's challenge didn't warrant a yellow card, while Chelsea were fouling us all the time yet the referee didn't dish out cards to them (Ballack and Alex) both should have been sent off.
EPL is NOT the best league in the world, most of the payers are foreign imports, and tactics like parking the bus.
There's nothing cowardly about defending well lads.
Can't believe Barca fans are moaning about the ref after some of the calls you've had in recent games against Chelsea. Maybe Ballack was lucky to stay on, but so was Puyol. Drogba and Alves are the two biggest tarts in football.
Arsenal regularly play negative football when they have to - don't believe the hype. They got to the CL final against you in 2006 with a series of defensive displays remember.
"There's nothing cowardly about defending well lads"...A...haaa....PeteW, can u tell a bit more about "defending well"..
Anyway i think u did not watch the match....i would like to request u to watch it first then comment..its in archive of itv web for free.
today essien said in press(according to goal.com)"chelsea will attack in stamford bridge"....hahaha...so these clowns at least understand they din attack at nou camp....then what did u do....?????
'can u tell a bit more about "defending well".. '
It's when you stop the other team scoring a goal even though they are at home and have 70 per cent of the possession. UC?
My previous post I had to to vent about Chelsea/English clubs and their cowardly pitiful tactics.
But I have to critique Barcelona they should of known better after all only last year they faced English football's best club who apparently is known for attacking and attractive football and even they went ultra defensive so what made Guardiola and Barca believe it was going to be anything different this time?
Chelsea was there for the taking Barcelona should of went for the throat and be DIRECT as much as possible but they choked and clearly looked nervous at the start of the game.
Bayern Munich is a better team then Chelsea and Barca crushed them without any hesitancy so why not Chelsea.
It seemed like Inesta and Toure were the only players who knew what they wanted.
Messi since returning from the international duty has not been performing.
All 3 of our world class forwards looked tired and did not perform like we expected them too.
Guardiloa should of replaced Eto'o with Keita and later Xavi with Bojan.
Toure is clearly superior to Keita in the Defensive Midfield position but Keita does like to venture forward and gets himself in good positions and also has a mean left foot which we could have used, and I'm positive Keita would of buried that header which Bojan missed.
Eto'o and Henry took so long on their decision making in excellent possitions.
Several times they were inside Chelsea's box but they always were hesitant stuck in 2 minds to pass or shoot.
Eto'o made an excellent opportunity for himself which should of resulted in a goal if he looked up and passed it to Henry instead he hesitated and ended up passing it to Cech.
God I'm frustrated we should of scored at least 2 minimum with the amount of chances we had.
@PeteW
There is a big difference between playing football while defending well and not playing football at all. What Chelsea did last night was not "defend well" it was simply not football. They STILL got lucky in the end because even with 9 men behind the ball we still created 3-4 clear cut chances that we simply failed to take. So more of a failure on our part than success on theirs. Chelsea are not the first team to come the Nou Camp and play like this and they wont be the last. Its not particularly hard to do what they did, we see teams in Spain at the bottom of the table who come and do exactly the same thing. What it came down to last night was luck and it was on their side not ours.
It is not the defending that is cowardly it is the general attitude. Chelsea are supposed to be one of the biggest teams in the world, they have some of the best players. Recently they have been showing some great attacking play. They scored plenty of goals against Liverpool, they always take the game to Utd and Arsenal, home or away. They never park the bus against any other teams, so why play like that against us? Because they are scared, that is what makes them cowards. The fact that they refuse to meet us head on, or at least try and score when everybody knows they can. Chelsea are no bottom dwellers, they are not a team fighting relegation, they are supposed to be one of the best teams in the "best league" right? So why not show some guts? Thats what makes them cowards, the fact that they have more than enough ability to come and play us but instead they chose to hide behind a wall of players. You know a team can still defend well without the need to put everybody behind the ball. They can still attack and defend. I guess they were just too scared.....
Thanks to some of you Barca fans for trying to be fair about last night's game.
A few facts:
Juventus 2 Chelsea 2
Liverpool 1 Chelsea 3
Chelsea 4 Liverpool 4 (a match widely voted one of the greatest CL matches ever)
These results tell us that Chelsea are just as entertaining - if not more so - than Barcelona.
Some of the writers on here seem to think that Chelsea should play like Bayern or Lyon - then you would applaud us for 'playing well'. and 'losing gallantly'.
Well this is Football - a winner's game - and it does not work like that.
Like Manchester United last season we worked out how to play Barca - knowing that you always lose your nerve in the big games.
Now we have the away result we wanted we will show you the other side of our game next Wednesday.
If Barca win next week then good luck to you all.
'Its not particularly hard to do what they did'
Really? Remind me the last time you failed to score at home?
You seem to be forgetting that this is a two-legged affair, so you have to pick and chose your tactics accordingly.
Look, if you'd won 2-0 at home I don't imagine you'd be coming to the Bridge looking to play an open, attacking game, would you? As it is, we've got a potential cracker on our hands - hopefully as good as 2005. You said we were boring before that one, too, remember.
fuck hilal, rarely have u ever put something so to the point and correct. ive been trying all day to tell people just what u said, there is a differnece between playing football while defending and just changing the game to one called "defense". concur on the point too about the quality. someone likened it to when wenger complains about fulham doing that to arsenal. i just laughed and said, so barca vs chelsea is like arsenal vs fulham. its like they are some relegation team. honestly pittiful. i think one of the most shameful things was hiddink's pre match comments and then the result.
"Chelsea has the character not to sit back, it is impossible in this team even if I say to the team "hey guys let's sit back and defend" it is impossible because there is this desire in the team to play football as well"
guess then impossible things may just be possible.
"Some of the writers on here seem to think that Chelsea should play like Bayern or Lyon - then you would applaud us for 'playing well'. and 'losing gallantly'."
So essentially what you are saying is that had you tried to play football against us like Lyon or Bayern did you would have lost? Sorry but if you are a Chelsea fan then your not a very good one because I certainly rate Chelsea a lot higher than Lyon or Bayern. You listed all those great shorelines against fantastic teams, so you obviously have the class to beat any team right? That is what you are trying to say isn't it? So why not try to beat us? Are you not good enough to beat us playing football? IS that really what you think of your team?
here's a post from elsewhere i read, made me feel a bit better:
"Surely that game proved that, regardless of the second-leg result, Barca are the best team in the world? Chelsea were plainly terrified of them, the way they lined up instantly admitting that they were playing against a much better team. When Sunderland go to Arsenal and park the bus, this is an implicit acknowledgement that they are playing a much better team. Furthermore,the best team does not have to be the 'most successful' team - can anybody truly claim after watching that game that Chelsea are a 'better' team, even if they go on to win the tournament? For those who say Chelsea would have got beaten if they tried to match Barca by playing football, again that is an admission that they were playing a better team.
I am English and I will always support English teams in Europe, but Barca played Man U off the park in both legs of the semi last year as well, and the English team again got lucky. Of course defending is just as important as attacking but 'parking the bus' is the ultimate admission of inferiority.
Oh, and I wish that tw*t Drogba would just stay on his feet..."
" Some of the writers on here seem to think that Chelsea should play like Bayern or Lyon - then you would applaud us for 'playing well'. and 'losing gallantly'."
I actually have more respect for Lyon and Bayern than I will ever have for Chelsea , Liverpool or Manchester United . Unlike the EPL clubs , Lyon and Bayern had more guts and integrity to play football as it is intended to be . Sadly though some EPL fans don't see it that way . They just don't get it I guess !!
God - you have some sad, twisted, bitter losers on here!
Makes me feel better to know that some Barca fans know they have blown it for another year and will be going out next week.
So much for 'the best team in the world' !!!!!!!!
@PeteW
'Its not particularly hard to do what they did'
"Really? Remind me the last time you failed to score at home? "
Its not the scoring i was referring to it was the playing the 9 men behind the ball. Football is a game of inches and last night it just didnt happen for us. With all your tough strong physical defenders and with all your players behind the ball we still managed to create 3-4 great chances it just wasnt to be. Chelsea got lucky, on another night we would have won 2-0 even with your bus parking antics. Bojans chance was almost unmissable and Eto'o should have squared to an open henry for a tap in. C'est la vie...
Also I never said you should come to the Nou Camp and play an open attacking game leaving us loads of space. That would be stupid, but its not like it is one or the other. You can play reasonably tight and still try and make a game out of it. You can defend well without 9 men behind the ball, thats all im saying. Are you so afraid of us that you wont dare attack? Is that really how low you rate Chelsea vs Barca that you have to play like this. If thats the case then it is truly a shame.
You really picked the right point PeteW.we thought Chelsea are stronger than lyon and Bayern and hence Chelsea would try to win. But you proved this wrong.An surprisingly u rather showed u r scared of playing at camp nou.U say this tactics..there are several wiining tactics. based on the type of team it depends which u pick...u picked the ugly one.thats what we say...as a europe runnersup u could show that u can win in camp nou....which u din.....
"God - you have some sad, twisted, bitter losers on here! "
That is the reaction of somebody with nothing sensible to say. Simply attack the people you disagree with instead of trying to make a good point. Clearly you have no good points. Probably because you realize that your team did in fact play like cowards and you are probably also a little embarrassed. Cant say that i blame you, I too would be ashamed if my team played like that.
Oh and nobody has lost anything yet.
"God - you have some sad, twisted, bitter losers on here! "
Well , we are disappointed not to win a game we dominated and deserved to win . There is nothing twisted about that . We just aim for the best and we do it right . We don't have to cheat , kick our way through or play cowardly, ever . As it stands now , Barça have a better chance in advancing to the final . Chelsea , on the other hand, MUST win and that requires some talent, determination and most importantly GUTS . As the saying goes ; no guts no glory . See you next week !!
WHAT IS WRONG WITH MESSI?? How is he going to reach legendary status, with this sort of performance?? This was way below my expectations o0f him. He had troubles with Bosigwa?? WTF??? He was never himself after the ARGENTINA VS BOLIVIA game....i'm dead worried as if everybody notices...whenever Messi is playing most of the attacking passes seems to be given to him. i'm deeply upset at this. I hope the team wakes up...Because all the good football they played for this season will be forgotten if they end up with nothing. And thats a big big shame!!!
@chris ,
Unfortunately Messi seems to be tired . Guardiola and Maradona have done a good job running him into the ground with very little rest even when the games were already decided !!
yo guys, let this silly chelsea fan be. ur never going to convince him that what they did was shameful or pathetic or cowardly. a chelsea fan simply cannot admit that. because if they do, they would have to take an honest look at their team and finally truthfully admit to themselves that they were afraid and felt vastly inferior to us.
chris: ive noticed u talking about messi in the last few weeks. and yes he hasnt been at his best. u just have to give him his time man and support the best player in the world and always be proud he is a cule. no player can be perfect every game for his whole career. maradona certainly wasnt, and neither will messi. he is a human being and will go through rough patches. he is still the best player alive and when he finds his magic he will be back to himself. certainly the timing isnt great, but its not his fault, im sure he himself would like to playing better. he isnt a light switch
Okay, a few points here then I must go.
Firstly Barcelona are a tremendous attacking side and for a team not to take that into account when playing them is stupid. This is a two-legged game and we now have home advantage; it would have been suicidal to have played to YOUR strengths in YOUR ground when we can take things back to ours and settle it there. Our job was to stop you scoring and make sure there is still a game to play at the Bridge. Yours was to score, and then close it out in London.
Secondly, cowards don't stop the best team in Europe - which is what you probably are - from scoring at home; cowards get beaten 4-0. What Chelsea showed wasn't fear, it was tremendous respect for a sensational team.
Thirdly, you are not giving your own team enough credit. Chelsea's first priority was not to concede, but they would have loved to get an away goal and almost certainly intended to play more on the counterattack than we did. But we couldn't get the ball, and when we could get the ball we couldn't keep it - your closing down of Lampard particularly was immense, and he had a very poor game.
Fourthly, it would have been a different game if you'd scored. But you didn't. On your own ground, having so much of the ball - sorry, but that's a failure. Three or four great chances is a very poor return given that we had two without really trying.
Fifthly, cheating and kicking? Stop squealing girls! That was a typical Barca game, lots of falling over, very little in the way of actual fouls. You should have seen what we did to Leeds in 1970!
Sixthly, I think you still have the advantage because you are the better side and only need a score draw to go through, but I have extraordinary faith in Guus Hiddink to get the tactics right on the day and after that it's down to individuals and fate. I can guarantee I'll be supporting whoever wins on Wednesday in the final, anyway.
All the best (accept for the child Blaugranaboy).
Agree with previous poster. I don't see Chelsea being afraid of us neither-after one day- but tremendously respectful. The question is.. you're a big team now, do you need to play us like Osasuna does?? You've got (some) talent, do you still need to have a small team mentality?? You're in a UCL semifinal, and won't be in the final without attacking. We stopped you from doing that, but you tried it in very few occasions.
We don't complain on the kicking, that's part of the game..but the elbows? i know that your players and captain are used to do whatever they want on a football field, but this things are purely anti-football..and drogba whining and diving at every chance he had..jeez, i thought he had more dignity..
Finally, tactic is a strong part of winning a CL semifinal, no doubt. But, can you honestly look at your team and name ONE player who can make a difference in what matters now, which is SCORING? You will be forced to score now, but comparing attacking lines, i think there's no comparisson.
It will be tough, of course, but will pass the team that is more effective, and to be effective you need to create chances..
@Chris..you've mentioned a good point, however, i do believe Messi's impressive display and effort this season is obviously showing now. A little resting would be good, AFTER next week..
"Fifthly, cheating and kicking? Stop squealing girls! That was a typical Barca game, lots of falling over, very little in the way of actual fouls. You should have seen what we did to Leeds in 1970! "
The whole Chelsea game plan was based on kicking , fouling and time wasting in order to disrupt Barça 's rhythm . Ballack , Terry and Alex were three of the dirtiest players I have seen in sometime . How ironic to accuse Barça players of falling off and diving when Chelsea have in its lineup some of the most outrageous divers in Europe : Drogba , Ballack , Joe Cole and Malouda to mention a few !!
Well Pete i must say you do make some strong points and at least you are willing to concede that we are probably the best team in Europe (unlike a lot of other EPL fans).
I can understand respecting a team, playing a tight defensive game, but to not attack at all? Like you said the only chances you had were gifted to you. That being said I must also concede that in a way we forced you to play the way you did. We pressed the midfield so well when we lost the ball that we didnt really give you the chance to counter attack. The Yaya was immense yesterday and everytime you got the ball we won it back so quickly that we didnt give your players a chance to move forward and create a bit of space at the back. Oh and yes not scoring was definitely OUR failure. Nothing can be said about that. We had our chances and we should have finished them. Simple as that.
It is an open 2nd leg now and I hope its going to be a good game, no matter the outcome. We are all football fans at the end of the day and we all want to see good games played with good football.
what a fantastic way of "respect" a good team.Hope no other team learns this way of respecting.
We need messi so much right at this moment.it would be cruel if we blame him. He got a really very tough season in his age. last two season he din play full season. So its a new experience as well. i was praying hard so that he click last night.
There is a second leg pending...why not wait if the might Barcelona can come from the Fortress Bridge unscathed...
I promise you the game plan will be very different...Hold your words.....
You might have a powerful strike force...but where is your defence?
I believe we have a better stable team from Goal Keeper to the Attack...we may rank as follows:
Defence Defending Attacking Striking
Midfield Midfield
Che 80% 75% 75% 75%
Barc 45% 60% 95% 90%
I think we will beat you on the basis of your weak defence as shown you above.
" I think we will beat you on the basis of your weak defence as shown you above."
Chelsea may have the advantage on Barça in three or four positions : goalkeeper ,CB/CB? ,LB . However, this really does NOT say much since most clubs have an advantage over us in that area too . However when it comes to midfield and attack Chelsea have no prayer . Barça are by far superior . Get over it !!
if you want any proof of epl fans being conceded here it is.......some guy commented in goal.com in the article about evra saying hes not scard of messi......
some guy said "im a football fan and im not trying to be funny but who is messi".......
THIS GUY IS A RETARD AND SHOULD BE SHOT IN THE HEAD RIGHT THIS INSTANT
I told you that it would be a waste of time!!!
"Finally, tactic is a strong part of winning a CL semifinal, no doubt. But, can you honestly look at your team and name ONE player who can make a difference in what matters now, which is SCORING?"
Didier Drogba.
It's obvious that your attack is the best in the world, and in Messi you have a player who is the best in the world by a distance in my view, and when on form can unlock any defence.
But, I think your centre halves for the return leg may be a bit worried about Drogba. Drogba's power and strength is terrific...if we can keep the ball better than we did at the Nou Camp and get it to him, he could do a lot of damage.
To be honest it's hard to see us stopping you from scoring at the Bridge. Just hoping that we can get forward in support of Drogba better than in the first leg and make some chances ourselves.
Undoubtedly you have some world class players, but we have a few of our own. Whoever wins will be deserving finalists.
I smell some BPL punks in our blogsite. No hard feelings, the BPL is too overated. You guys are a bunch of Rugby stars playing football. That's how i see it. All BARSA has to do is pressure the hell of Lampard, replace Henry with Iniesta, and deploy Keita at the usual Iniesta role.....this will make us have more strenghth in Midfield and Agility upfront. Its a shame that Hleb is not fully clickin at the moment. If not, we'll definitely have another option upfront.
So to sum up Barca fans wahwahwahwahwahsobsnivelwhine.
So it's racist not to give Barca every decision like the refs there do? Jokers.
Mourinho worked at Barcelona for 4 years, he knows how the club works and their dirty tricks.
Your record against English teams is poor, that's why you're crapping yourselves.