Champions League Semi Final Preview: Barça - Chelsea
Monday, 27 April 09, 03:32 PM · Comments (27)
Hold on to your horses, this is going to be fun! Tomorrow night Football Club Barcelona begin a week in which we play three of the biggest games you could possibly imagine. First up it is Chelsea FC at Camp Nou in the UEFA Champions League semi final first leg, on Saturday we travel to Madrid to take on our biggest rivals Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in a game that could decide
Barça are at full strength for the game and the only real question over team selection is which defender will be left out. Rafa Marquez missed the game at Valencia: was Guardiola saving him for Chelsea? Personally I would go for a back four of Alves, Puyol, Piqué and Abidal, as Piqué and Abidal are playing very well and I can’t see captain Puyol being left out despite him not being at his best recently. Unless there is a big surprise the rest of the team picks itself, with Xavi, Toure and Iniesta in midfield and Messi, Eto’o and Henry up front.
As everyone knows Chelsea will be without left back Ashley Cole who is suspended, they are also without Ricardo Carvalho for the first leg as he has a hamstring injury, while Paulo Ferreira and Joe Cole are both out with long term injuries. In Saturday’s 0-1 win at West Ham coach Guus Hiddink experimented with Jose Bosingwa at left back, Bosingwa normally plays at right back but due to his speed it is likely that he will be chosen to mark Leo Messi. Chelsea are the only other team in Europe who are mathematically still in with a chance to win a treble this season, but they are six points behind Manchester United and have played one more game than United, making their chances of winning the Premiership almost non-existant.
The game is sure to be a battle of styles as both sides try to play to their strengths. Barça will need to move the ball very quickly to avoid allowing Chelsea the chance to make the game a physical contest. This battle of styles will be exemplified in midfield where Michael Essien will probably mark Xavi Hernandez. Essien was thought to be key in Chelsea’s win over Liverpool at Anfield when he marked Steven Gerard out of the game. Another important aspect of the tie will be to see which team’s African striker will be most on form. Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba have both been African player of the year, Eto’o in 2003, 2004 and 2005, while Drogba stole Eto’o’s crown to win in 2006.
The clubs have met on four previous occasions in the Champions League. In the quarterfinals in 1999/2000 Chelsea won the first game at Stamford Bridge 3-1 but Barça staged a magnificent comeback in the 2nd leg to win 5-1 after extra time. In the last 16 in 2004/2005 Barça won the first game 2-1 at Camp Nou, but Chelsea knocked us out winning 4-2 in London. We met again in the last 16 the following season, the first game was at Stamford Bridge but Barça managed to earn an impressive 1-2 win, and then a 1-1 draw at home was enough to see us through, going on to win the trophy that year. Then in 2006/2007 we met in the group stage, Chelsea won 1-0 at home and then forced a 2-2 draw in Barcelona; however, both teams progressed to the following stage.
Barça have three players under threat of missing the second leg if they receive a yellow card: Alves, Puyol and Busquets, while for Chelsea, Anelka is in the same situation.
Possible starting elevens:
Barça: Valdés; Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Iniesta; Messi, Eto'o, Henry
Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovich, Terry, Alex, Bosingwa; Kalou, Ballack, Lampard, Essien, Malouda; Drogba.
My prediction: Barça 3 Chelsea 1
Like this blog? Help spread the word: 
27 Comments · Add yours
can't wait
)
best case scenario..........kill them in first half to rest for madrid
reality.........it might be a tough game but ithink we wont concede a goal(UNLESS VALDES BOTTLES WHICH IS LIKELY
my prediction 2-0
LETS TEACH THESE EPL TEAMS HOW TO WIN IN STYLE!!!!
GRTTTTTT chance to give epl teams a lesson...first in semi then in final....hope this is our YEAR.....
"fortune is for the braves and brave is for barca"
Barca!!!Messi!!!Grt!!!
i'm really praying hard, boiz....this world should be fair at least this time
barca 4 - 1 chelsea
ha ha...let's all pray!!!
i'm praying with layi. and going with his prediction.
barca 4-1 chelsea
it could the game i have waited this season.
but at camp nou it could be easy to win but we
must make cleansheet.
to night is the time barcelona introduce what they are?
i am very glad to see win and cleansheet.
my prediction:
fc barcelona 2-0 chelsae fc
as ive said, im super nervous. i know we are better, anyone with any sort of real objectivity does. do we deserve, i think so, many non-barca fans think so. but there is nothing fair in the world, and as much as i and my bud layibi want to world to be just, u never know.
we can only believe in the strength of our squad. in our excellent physical preparation and seemingly mental preparation too. i think we also enjoy the big game. ive seen messi, xavi, puyol all really come through big when it counts. we just need to play our game, keep the ball, make chances, and just NOT foul them close to goal and allow them free kicks.
we will all be watching in less than 12 hrs, lets hope the post match page with all some joyous commentary.
i just can't wait. im not sure of a victory at all, as chelsea has some super skilled players. their defense has been shaky lately so lets hope they wont change that for tonights game.
easily the toughest game of the season so far. ive got two notes:
1) im a bit anxious about xavi and messi - can they regain after their poor performance against valencia?
2) iniesta will be our main key for this game. in england, it seems like people keep talking messi,messi,messi.. no attention is brought to our pale superman, don andrés, who will just rock their world!
.. ok, just read the blog-battle pt.2. it seems like this guillem balague agrees with me on Iniesta.
Pique is Slow prefer Carceres Or Marquez
cant...wait...much...longer
men, can't wait for the game, it is going to be a tough game, my prediction is 3-1 too.
I think that key players in this game would be Yaya Toure and Iniesta.
I am soo nervous i cant sit straight. I am scared, i hate Chelsea's physical game, but we had to play them at some point.
Despite my fear, i think Barca are going to kill them,
my prediction 4 - 0 (Messi, Eto, Henry and Iniesta)
GOOOOOOOO BARCAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Pep's left Puyol on the bench! A brave decision, but our captain has looked a bit vulnerable recently, and he is a booking away from suspension.
Team is: Valdés; Alves, Marquez, Piqué, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Iniesta; Messi, Eto'o, Henry
Chelsea start with: Cech; Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Bosingwa, Essien, Ballack, Mikel, Lampard, Malouda, Drogba.
5-2 Barca!!!
Is anyone else watching it and on-line? Chelsea haven't turned up yet.
Barca look nervous, the pressure is getting to them. Chelsea will come out stronger in the second half and nick a goal or two...
i hate this referee...
we passed the ball alot but didnt create many chances, reminds me of the first leg of last year against manchester. we will have both puyol and marquez out for the 2nd leg, so i dont think we have a chance, we need to concentrate on the league now. real madrid will have learned alot from today's game, the more the game stops, the less rhythm we have so they will try to slow down the game as much as possible and get a goal on the counter attack. i think the players chose a bad time to be out of form.
anti-climactic.
can anyone say...how many players were in chelsea defense???(i felt like whole london was there)can anyone say is there any real attack by chelsea??(other than drogba's one which actually not attack but a fault by marq..)can anyone say where actually drogba and lampard played(i saw them in the defense in whole game).....as a true footbal lover i hav to say chelsea should be ashamed of..and Hiddink is simply a stupid rubbish
The Ref was a joke ! Chelsea was also a joke ! What a game from Barca I proud of my team. Our captain will miss the other match but we must no focus on EL Clasico. We can still win everything. Nothing is lost.
Wow what on earth is with the pessimism FCBaraca88 ??
Chelsea defended in the most defensively minded formation possible, with the most defensively strong players in the world (Ballack, Essien, Mikel, Lampard), they had no pressure from their fans and YET Barca still created FOUR clear cut chances?? And you say that we have no chance...
This is the way I see it. Chelsea didn't score. That was the good thing about tonight. In London if Barca score just ONE goal in ninety minutes, Chelsea have to score two. Barca will get chances at the Bridge I am sure and I am 100% certain Barca will go through now. a 0-0 is better then a 2-1 imo. CHELSEA NOT SCORING WILL SEND US THROUGH!!
On the game itself I am getting pissed with Eto. People will not critisize him for the season he has had but still. The guy has the awareness of a donkey sometimes. He did great to get through one on one, he had Henry free the other side of the goal to tap it in but he doesnt ever fuking look up. LOOK THE OTHER SIDE FOR FUK SAKE!! He done it last year against Man United in the semi-finals in the Nou Camp and done it again tonight. Im not being saying Eto is crap. He is excellent. But again on the big stage he fluffed his line when Messi was very quiet we needed him.
The ref is a twat. Henry got fouled end of by Boswinga. Bojan missed from 2 yards but what can we do he is young and Hleb wasnt bought for his finishing.
I really, really hate Chelsea. Such a shame the lads didnt win one for the game of football against such a discrace of a team. But Barca WILL go through. Have faith!!
lol pessimism, believe me im not being pessimistic
first of all, i said real madrid will have learned from this game and they will defend and try to score on the counter attack...thats not pessimistic
second, i do believe we were much better today but i still think we need to concentrate on the league for now, we cant be distracted by the chelsea game while we play real madrid. but still, the game at stamford bridge will be entirely different because chelsea will attack more and what worries me the most is marquez and puyol out. caceres hasnt played much this year and i dont know how he will do in such a big game.
finally, yesss the more teams foul or slow down the game, the more we get frustrated and play bad. this is exactly what happened against espanyol earlier, and i know the ref was terrible today but i thought the barca players wasted too much time arguing with him, that also slowed the game down. barca needed to play faster.
well...i am in full support of what barca played tonight...u see guyz when a big team like chelsea keep 10 player in defense its horribly impossible...i was wondered....u see everytime ball was in valdez hand...there is no chelsea player near the midline..."no single player"...
how a big team can be such stupid defensive...when cech got the ball always he took a shot directly to valdez...did u see lampard defensing eto??where was ballack the whole game...
peoplepay money to watch a good game..some pay and buy tickets some pay fot tv channels...this sort of game is terribly dissapointing for football fans...
Eto should see hhenry and if he could it was a goal...henry could see eto as well when he moved up on left in first ..eto was free...but still i don blame them...
its definitely is tough time for us..we lost nothing yet...but not to lose anything we have to be mentally strong..because everyone is putting pressure on us now...
Barca!!!Messi!!!Grt!!!
oopps...to be honest...marquez made a terrible mistake while valdez saved in a superb way.....specifically the second reflex..