Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona

A real big surprise this result, but I genuinely think that Chelsea deserve that win, they may not have had as much possession but surprisingly when they did get the ball always looked a threat and defended superbly.

I was rooting for Barcelona in this tie as I'm hoping for an El Classico final, but I was really impressed with the way Chelsea played and the question has to be asked is where have these performances come from, was Villas Boas really that poor?

I'm sure Chelsea will get their fair share of critics who claim they didn't play the game the 'right' way, but I think when you face a team like Barcelona they played the way you need to, lots of pressing all around the pitch and quick on the counter attack. I thought that Barcelona would just tire them out, but Meireles and Ramires both kept it up for nearly the entire match which was terrific. Meireles especially who has been poor for Chelsea all year and I expected him to be Chelsea's downfall tonight, turned out to do well putting pressure on the Barca midfield.

One man who proved critics, such as myself, wrong tonight was Gary Cahill who was genuinely world class. He was making some really good tackles, a lot of the time stopping Messi with his dribbles, didn't make any mistakes and was playing all round good football. I think he's suited more to being on the back foot, perhaps too similar to John Terry, making last ditch tackles etc.

I think the sour note on Chelsea's behalf was Didier Drogba, who resorted to diving a lot, particularly in the first half. It's so frustrating watching a guy with the strength, pace and skill to actually get the better of the defenders without resorting to cheating have to dive all the time and fall to the floor all the time. I think it disrupted Chelsea's play a lot of the time, they wanted to see Drogba hold the ball up to bring in Mata, Lampard and Ramires but he instead just fell to the floor. I suppose he got the goal in the end which is most important though.

I don't think Chelsea will go through, same with Munich, I think back in Spain, both the Spanish teams will have too much for the opponents, but for now Chelsea can savour the result.

Ireland will learn a lot from Chelsea's win. They rode thier luck at times but they can get a result in the Camp Nou. Will be incredibly difficult but acheiveable.

We were brilliant tonight, especially Cahill, Cole, Terry, Mata and DROGBAAAAAAA!

Hope Chelsea go through. Can't stand Barca.

why does everybody want the all spanish match?, we are all getting that match this weekend. Id rather see Chelsea vs Madrid

Chelsea vs Madrid gives us Chelsea vs Jose which would be awesome

bretmeharty wrote:why does everybody want the all spanish match?, we are all getting that match this weekend. Id rather see Chelsea vs Madrid

I'd rather Bayern v Chelsea. Also came down lads, don't be thinking of the final yet there's till a 2nd leg to go. Barca were unlucky at times tonight, the ball just wouldn't go in although I thought Cech looked as good as he did in 04/05.

Thomond wrote:

bretmeharty wrote:why does everybody want the all spanish match?, we are all getting that match this weekend. Id rather see Chelsea vs Madrid

I'd rather Bayern v Chelsea. Also came down lads, don't be thinking of the final yet there's till a 2nd leg to go. Barca were unlucky at times tonight, the ball just wouldn't go in although I thought Cech looked as good as he did in 04/05.

That header, I thought that was in. Cracking save

the header was indeed a cracking save. Chelsea were superb tonight, yes they were lucky but to stop this Barcelona side from scoring is one heck of an achievement. They worked so hard all night, and thoroughly deserved the result.

Special praise to Cole, Terry and Cahill who were immense all night in defense (Cole doesn't seem to be getting the plaudits, but he delivered pretty much the perfect match IMO). Meireles as you say was instrumental in closing down the space in front of the defense, big well done to him. Lampard's vision for the goal was superb too, I get annoyed when people say he can't pass, had that been Scholes the media would have been creaming themselves for a week.

Drogba. Well, good finish for the goal, worked hard all night long, and some really good work holding the ball up. In between there were those rather theatrical falls. I disagree with Crimey in that I thought they disrupted Barca's rhythm so in that sense were effective, but I much prefer when he stays on his feet. Ulitmately though, I think Busquets complaining about someone's play-acting is a bit rich

Well done lads, job half (but only half) done.

Well done Chelsea
Well deserved
First time I have ever cheered on Chelsea

Mad For Chelsea

Big difference between Scholes passing ability and that of any english midfielder of the past 15 years.

Good performance from Chelsea and hopefully they can hold on at the nou camp.

Barca could have easily won this game by 3 or 4 goals:

-Alexis hit the bar
-Fab mis hit shot from 4 yards out
-Fab mis hits a 1-on-1 chip
-Alexis misses 5 yard sitter

Taking nothing away from Chelsea they defended admirably. Cole highlighted why he has been consistantly the best lb in the world for almost 10 years. Cahill came of age tonight and showed why he is tipped to be a very good cb.

I felt Chelsea's game plan suited the pitch size, but I generally don't believe you can play like that and not concede on a bigger pitch at the nou camp. They have to go looking for the away goal because the chances of Barca not scoring at the Nou Camp are almost impossible. Still fancy Barca to win like they did when they played Arsenal, losing the 1st leg, ripping them apart second. Well played Chelsea, at least at the end of it you can say you beat Barca. Barca-Bayern final hopefully.

Chelsea ..................................Barcelona
28% .......Possession.................72%
5.............Atempts on goal.........24
1.............Attempts on target......6
194.........Passes completed........782
one.........GOALS........................nil

Had Wolves done what Chelsea did in the league they'd be slated for playing boring football.

Boring boring Barca. Hit passes at 2 yards for a couple of minutes until someone falls asleep in the Chelsea defence. But that didn't happen last night - well done Chelsea! Personally, I think Barca will win 2-1 next week which would send Chelsea through on away goals.

should of been about 5-1 to Barca but there finishing was appaling, Cesc was dreadful. Barca always struggle on narrow pitches as they are unable to use the flanks and the opposition defenders are too deep and close together for penetration.

Drogba was an embarrasment. He is an absolute digrace, he should be ashamed of himself. Give the guy a pram! Constantly feigning injury and stopping the natural flow of the game just ruined the spectacle. He was shocking when he first appeared in England but learnt not to dive but now he's not the player he used to be, he is resorting back to this antics to cheat and gain advantage. I hope Chelsea get what they deserve, an absolute pummeling at Camp Nou.

Yea agreed about Drogba John, he's built like an ox yet goes down under the slightest challenge.

Good win for Chelsea no doubt, but in reality they had one chance whereas Barca blew 7 or 8 good chances and dominated the game on a narrow pitch in heavy rain. Completely different conditions in Spain where i think it'll be 3 or 4 zip to Barca.

Chelsea might just get one chance at the Nou Camp and take it. After all, that's what they did last night. Question then of how many Barca score. If they manage more than 2 they'll be only one winner.

I think one of the major factors last night was Ramires up against Alves, he ran all night and generally kept Alves on the back foot. He didnt let Alves link in with Messi as fluently as he normally does and put in a good, possibly lucky, cross into Drogba for the goal

Chelsea's best asset last night was the pitch. Barca love to stretch play which gives their central midfielders plenty of room to make late runs through the middle....this just didn't happen last night. That said Barca really could of had 5 and should have had at least 3.

Not sure about the love for Meireles on here, yes he pressed but 9 times out of 10 was breezed past and then tried (emphasis on the try) to hack players from the back. His continued attempts to foul Messi, yet failing, were to be frank embarrassing. Not sure how he saw the game through let alone not pick up a booking??

The whole Drogba feigning injury to brake play up is moot. There was no head injury so the ref shouldn't stop play.

For me this result hasn't really changed anything, Barca will win comfortably at the Camp Nou.

Chelsea set out to do a job and they did it which was to prevent an away goal and try and smash and grab. They did that and they deserve a lot of credit for such a resilient performance, but you can't help but wonder how the hell Barca didn't score.

Sanchez, Fabregas x2, Adriano, Pedro and Busquets all had very good chances and on another night they could and should have been out of sight. Cech made some solid saves and the Chelsea back four played out of their skins.

But come on, lets not get carried away, in the past Barca have gone to the Emirates and Old Trafford been defeated. On bigger pitches in which the likes of Messi and Iniesta thrive, they'll tear Chelsea apart.

There were indicative signs last night of that being the case. Barca don't lose at the Nou Camp all too often and mark my words, they will cut through Chelsea like a hot knife through butter.

They've done it to Arsenal and United, who are probably on paper, better sides than this current Chelsea team.

On another note, Didier Drogba is one of the biggest disgraces in football after last night. Watching him was cringeworthy at best. Such a waste of talent, like others have said when such a strong powerful guy will go down at the bat of an eyelid against a Barca team that doesn't exactly reek of physicality. If there's any justice in the world, he'll have received a right rollocking off RDM.

I think it's more likely he was told to do it by RDM, because it disrupted the flow of the game, put the defenders off challenging him.

I think that despite the protests, diving is become more of a part of the game.

Yes spending hundreds of millions on players to park the bus at home was higly impressive... Saying that though it was probably the only way they could get a result so fair play. Doubt they will get away with that at the nou camp though!