Barcelona 0-0 CHELSEA: Barca Frustrated As Chelsea Stand Firm
BARCELONA 0-0 CHELSEA
Ok, I’ll hold my hands up – I’m just a right old pessimist and I didn’t give our players anywhere near enough credit going into this game. I think I’d actually forgotten just how bloody stubborn we can be.
Mind you, it didn’t look good for us with Cech looking edgy as early as 2 minutes in and after 5 minutes I was beginning to think we’d be lucky to even see the ball. And I wasn’t far wrong really. 15 minutes it, we’d got just 35% of the possession and I was resorting to counting Petr Cech’s goal kick as a shot on target. Bosingwa looked like he needed a bit of help, the free-kicks were mounting up and the referee didn’t know whether he was coming or going – to put it mildly.
Half hour in and it looked as if the only way to handle Messi was to bring him down and hope the free-kick did less damage than the Argentinean could have done if left to run at full throttle – it worked in the short-term, although overall, Messi didn’t lie up to the hype on the night which was a huge relief. To be honest though, we were more or less camped out in our own half and I’ve already seen it described as an ‘8-1-1’ formation but am I bothered? I couldn’t care bloody less. We’d never gone to the Nou Camp expecting to play ‘entertaining football’ and nor should we because if we’d tried to get involved in that sort of game they’d have punished us. It was clear what we needed to do was frustrate them – and if we got anything out of it then it would be a bonus.
And the frustrating them was paying off. Daniel Alves was swinging handbags in a personal battle with Florent Malouda and while Drogba appeared to be doing a bit of his own brand of mediation, Toure was picking up a yellow card for getting a bit narked in view of the ref. So we were doing something right.
And whilst we weren’t creating chances, Didier Drogba was given a gilt edged opportunity to put us a goal up with a complete cock up in the Barcelona defence in the 39th minute. Victor Valdes made sure we didn’t get the away goal with a couple of pretty sharp reaction saves although Drogba really could – and should – have done better. Another lapse not long after, and another half-chance, but this time the Ivorian lost his footing in the box and our chances had gone begging.
Needless to say Barca had chances themselves – they were bound to with the amount of possession they were enjoying but at least as we got ever closer to half-time they were reduced to shots from distance – and we could more than live with that. So we went in 0-0 at half-time and that was an achievement in itself.
Back from the break then and it was Barca’s turn to resort to fouling with Malouda down. Free-kick in by Drogba although back out again by Ballack – more opportunities going to waste. Then we had a bit of drama courtesy of an Henry/Alex clash of heads but just before the paramedics arrived Henry stumbled to his feet and all seemed right with the former Arsenal man’s world again.
Unfortunately for Barca it was Marquez who hit the deck next, pulling up on the ball and being stretchered off soon after. Of course at the time, being able to bring your captain on as sub might have seemed a luxury at the time but bearing in mind Puyol ended up with a yellow that sees him miss he return leg and early reports suggesting Marquez misses the remainder of the season, it could turn out to be a luxury they can’t afford.
Naturally Alves – who played the drama queen all night – had to have his turn on the floor, and did so as theatrically as ever following a challenge between Lampard and Drogba but it’s little wonder the ref ignored him. Although to be fair, our own little drama queen went down a few times, and whilst we might have noticed him go down in our area, Barca appeared not to as they continued to take shots around him.
A few more scares came courtesy of a Frank Lampard foul in possibly the worst area for him to concede one although thankfully it was the outside of the net Alves rippled with it. And whilst it raised a few eyebrows when Lampard was subbed for Juliano Belletti, Hiddink knew what he was doing pushing Essien more central and sticking Belletti ahead of Ivanovic to add a bit of protection. We’d worked our arses off to get to the hour mark without conceding and Guus had no intention of it happening by this stage.
Petr Cech, who was having one of his better days at the office pulled off a lovely save against Eto’o and he was lucky not to end up facing a penalty minutes later as Bosingwa got away with a tug on Henry.
Barca remained a constant threat and even the departure of Eto’o didn’t quieten the crowd as he was replaced by their latest starlet in the form of 18 year old Bojan. We kept it tight though, covering well with six or seven players in the box a necessity and Cech had grown in confidence all night. Not that that helped the nerves any when Iniesta went down just outside the box with five minutes remaining – and Ballack knew he was lucky not to pick up a second yellow for obstruction.
The fouls were racking up and with four minutes on the clock, so were the free-kicks although again Cech was doing more than enough, which was more than could be said for Drogba who yet again put up very little fight as the ball was nicked off his toe in the box after all Essien’s hard work putting it there in the first place. It was just one of those frustrating night’s for Drogba – although by my reckoning that should mean he’ll want to make amends when it’s back at Stamford Bridge.
Anyway, we weren’t done yet because we had five minutes of time added on to endure – in which time, Bojan should’ve scored, Petr Cech saved our arses yet again and Nicolas Anelka got all of about a minute as he replaced the hobbling Michael Ballack. But at the end of all that, we’d managed 96 minutes without conceding against one of the best (if not the best) Barcelona sides ever – and that’s something that hadn’t happened to them in the competition before we turned up.
Fantastic result. Job done. Well proud.
Filed under: Europe, Match report
Good article but I do not agree with the fact that Chelsea came to Barca to play football or as Hiddik stated before the match that it would be an “open game”. I guess we have different footballing philosophies but as a Barca fan I found Chelsea no different than a 2nd or 3rd division team in La Liga or the bottom half teams in La Liga.
That is what they did put 10 men behind the ball at all times. Chelsea even took out Lampard for Belletti since they wanted to play for a draw towards the end. When a team sits back like that is really difficult to play football but our class was there for the world to see.
We just need a draw in the Bridge and Liverpool showed that Chelsea can let in a few goals themselves. Hopefully Chelsea will attack in their own ground and that will give us the opportunity to show them what we can really do.
Fantastic result? Job done? How?
Another match at an ungodly hour - and even though Barca were reduced to shooting blanks with Cech more than equal to their shots on target - the result makes things seem all the more precarious!
Back to more Digital Signal Processing to calm the nerves .. z transform !!
Wtf Dino, did you read the article? Yes it was a fantastic result and the job was well done. The game plan going in to Camp Nou was clearly to stop Barca and come back to the Bridge with a draw. How is that so difficult to understand? Like Chelsea D said, if we had opened up, Barca would have punished us. It may have looked ugly from a neutral or Barca fan’s point of view, but Chelsea executed the game plan and now come home tied up. Chelsea are the first side to keep Barca off the score sheet at Camp Nou this season, hence, job well done!
I never thought we would survive the first leg in Barcelona…so I was not worrying that much. Saved my already weak heart(from Liverpool game) from couple of heart attacks. But now even a thought of next Wednesday is making me sick. We need a win. Not even score draw would help us. That’s what makes this tie even more difficult than the first. Our players were pretty quick to undo the good work they did at Anfield in last match. I hope we’ll learn from our mistake and get one of the biggest victories in CFCs history!
We will have Cole back and maybe Carvalho. Barca will be missing Puyol and Marquez AND they have to play Real Madrid Saturday in a game they can’t afford to lose. We should have our players more rested since our PL game isn’t as important. Let’s not underestimate Hiddink’s tactics.
Bloody hell, and I thought I was a pessimist. How can any supporter not be satisfied with the job we done last night? FFS this wasn’t Newcastle we were playing, it was Barcelona. They’ve been outplaying and outscoring everyone all season and we put a stop to that on their home turf. As I’ve said before, if Scolari was around we wouldnt even be in the competition now and yet here we are having put Liverpool out of the CL again, and 0-0 against Barca with the home leg to play - why can’t we be happy with that? I think the lads have really done us proud in this competition whatever happens from here on in. We were expected to get wiped off the park last night and it didn’t happen so who’s to say we can’t make it to the final again?
Oh and BarcaFan, how many 2nd or 3rd division La Liga sides do you reckon would have stopped Barca scoring this season? We might have resorted to putting ten men behind the ball but please don’t insult us. Our objective was to frustrate Barca and get back to Stamford Bridge having conceded as few goals as possible and we managed not to concede any at all. And by my reckoning that means only one of the two sides last night achieved their objectives and it wasn’t Barcelona.
Barca were good and passing and first touch wa a joy to watch…but at home if you can not break down defences you will struggle to score and Barca were frustrated…chelsea’s game plan was perfect, although boring…you can not get better than perfect.
One away goal will kill us off…but they could not score at home!!! We have the upper hand, with the dodgy defence short of their two center backs.
Players like Alves should be sacked…acting like people that have been shot, then getting up and walking away…
Man of the match Iniesta was awesome and lampard should be watching a DVD of this guy…he could learn a lot, but even he let the spanish blood go to his head when he tried to con the ref into getting ballack sent off!
All to play for and who would have expected that?
Peter
WTF Players like Alves should be sacked…acting like people that have been shot, then getting up and walking away
So Dopey Dogba does NOT go down like he was shot???
Think the referees should book them that might stop them from doing it over and over again.
Lampard got the DVD of Iniesta but he was listen to the radio instead of watching the DVD!!
Chelsea D was your pure game plan to stop Barca at home will it not be the same when you are at home too?? Do you think that you can keep them out for another 90 mins or just out score them??
Sham - Has anyone said Drogba doesn’t dive? We know he dives and make no secret of it, unlike Barca who seem to think their players are beyond reproach.
As for our game plan, I’m sure Hiddink will employ whatever tactics he thinks he needs to. We know we can contain them when they attack now and thats not something they can confidently say about us - not having faced us in that sort of game yet. And whilst I don’t expect us to go out there all guns blazing - which would be suicidal tactics - with their weaker central defence, I can see us possibly going back to the long ball over the top to Drogba in the second leg to exploit it.
Chelsea fans, you are in for a big supprise, do you think we have no defenders who can step in? Barcelona, hopefully unless you bottle it again will trickle into those holes when you are brave enough to venture into the other half. I tell you what if Henry, Messi & et´o misfired in one game you can be sure they wont do it a second time & hopefully with a bit of panache.
I really feel sorry for you 500 million on what? power players! not bad if thats what you want but you dont really want that do you, you want to be like Barca.
But you cant BUY a team like that off the shelf it`s a philosophy & taken many many years to mature.
Win or lose we will still be the mighty Barca & you well you`ll just be you
Más que un club
the end!
Sham…get a life mate.
I never mentioned Drogba, or anyone else,only using Alves as an example and yes Drogba too falls into the category of players who should be fired…there you go an open minded footy supporter, something sadly which you are not.
Managers should dictate to these players, to play the game and stop the acting, it is too difficult for referees to spot them all as some like drogba are bloody good at it.
Iniesta was an absolute joy to watch, maybe we will see him at Man city next year, helping them to stay in the premiership