Not since February 2003 has Barcelona suffered three consecutive defeats; skip three years to find the last time Chelsea tasted defeat against their opponents on Tuesday—one of few teams that own apositive record against the Catalans.
The unbeaten record was stretched to seven games following a stunning 2-2
draw at the Nou Camp that sends the
Blues to Munich for the Champions League
final on May 19th. It was truly a remarkable performance by a ten-men Chelsea
side that had to endured the sending off of their captain towards the end of
the first half, and an early injury to Gary Cahill.
Barcelona have now been eliminated on all four occasions after losing the
first leg of a Champions League semi-final, and suffered their fifth defeat to
Chelsea—most from any opponent in Europe. Both goals from the visitors came in
injury-time; Frank Lampard calmly put Ramires through with a perfectly threaded
pass that was finished with a chip by the Brazilian over Victor Valdes before
the end of the first half. And the clincher came off the foot of none other
than Fernando Torres, coming off the bench to net his eighth goal in 11 matches
versus the
Blaugrana—easily going around Valdes on a breakaway from mid-field.
The Spanish goalkeeper exited the competition with the second-worst
shot-to-save ratio, with only 10 total saves and 10 goals allowed in eleven
outings.
For all the offensive output, the Catalans were undone by their poor
defending. Gerard Pique made his return back into the starting eleven, but
lasted only 25 minutes after an ugly collision with Valdes that resulted in his
head smacking off the ground—losing his physicality and presence was costly for
a team that struggled on set-pieces. Barcelona had a ridiculous 82% of the
possession, rarely being pressured in their defensive zone, but looked
extremely shaky dealing with the long ball and the brute strength of Didier
Drogba—bullying the back four whenever given the opportunity and forcing Valdes
into a couple bad clearances.
With the aura of invincibility now gone, Barcelona supporters are slowly
getting accustomed to how the other half lives—victory never being a guarantee.
Every dynasty has an expiry date; some longer than others, but the cycle of
football is full of peaks and valleys, and the
Blaugrana are now slowly on
their journey back down to earth. Very few predicted Chelsea to get past
Barcelona, but no one would have put money on the
Blues coming back from a
two-goal deficit while down a man at the Nou Camp. If anyone did place that
bet, they are counting their money and laughing right now.
Roberto Di Matteo has overseen a miracle transformation, guiding the club to
its second cup final of the season. Win or lose, the manager has done enough to
be considered for the job on a permanent basis. Unfortunately, Chelsea will
travel to Munich minus a key group of players who will miss out due to
suspension—John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Raul Meireles and Ramires. They also
could potentially be missing David Luiz and Cahill through injury; both are now
in a race to regain their match fitness before the final.
Was Barcelona able to rediscover their killer instincts in final third?
Practically the entire match was played in the visitors half of the field;
even Drogba was doing his part on the defensive end. Initially, it appeared as
though Chelsea would be unable to sustain the pressure for ninety minutes. Both
goals were conceded off glaring mistakes by the
Blues, failing to close down
Isaac Cuenca which resulted in Sergio Busquets evening the aggregate score with
an easy tap-in to an empty net with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
Raul Meireles was at fault for the second, losing possession at mid-field which
ended with a neat finish by Andres Iniesta on the counter. Even after
surrendering a precious away goal, the second half was marred with much of the
same poor finishing which has plagued Pep Guardiola’s side for the last week.
Alexis Sanchez hit side-netting on a free header, and Busquets wasted a
glorious chance that fell to his feet from 10 feet out. Messi missing the
spot-kick summed up it was not to be the Catalans night.
Was Chelsea able to duplicate their impressive defensive discipline from
the first leg?
Discipline could have been questioned when Terry foolishly earned a red card
for what appeared to be a deliberate knee to the back of Sanchez’s leg. An
argument can be made that the forward embellished the contact, but with the
loss of Cahill to injury earlier, Terry should not have put himself in that
situation. Down 2-0, many teams would have folded, especially with their best
two centre-backs out of the match. Fortunately, Ivanovic and Ashley Cole picked
up the slack and lead by example, with a vocal Petr Cech instructing his
teammates on their positioning from his crease—moving them around like chess
pieces. Chelsea proved they could handle the pressure and perceiver through
adversity.
Lionel Messi report card...
I’ve lost count at the number of times Messi has been the hero and lifted
Barcelona to victory; the frequency is so great you almost expect it to happen
and are amazed when it fails to materialize. However, Chelsea knows how to
bring the worst out of Messi, who looks unlike his usual dominating self
against the
Blues. The streak of futility has now stretched to eight games
without a goal against the West Londoners, with two chances squandered in the
first half, and the costly penalty miss early in the second half that virtually
killed his confidence. Losing possession and sending passes astray in
abundance, for the first time you could see disbelief and despair in his eyes—culminating
with a yellow card for pulling back Lampard after surrendering the ball. Messi
did see a shot go off the post late in the match, but the remaining minutes
fizzled out without response.
Man of the match...
The general in goal for Chelsea, Cech played an important role in getting
his team into the final. His impressive clean sheet in the first leg was
followed with a strong performance in the Catalan capital. The veteran
goalkeeper made the saves needed to give his team the chance to earn a positive
result; the most critical being the low save on Messi with seven minutes
remaining, getting enough of a touch to steer the shot into the post and away
from goal. But, it was his leadership during the red card decision that stood
out for me as a defining moment—speaking words of reason and calming his
captain down after the defender was sent off.
Honourable mention...
Ashley Cole was the consummate professional and proved why he should still
be regarded as one of the best left-backs in football. At 31, he completely
schooled his younger opponents with his sheer determination and quickness.
First Cuenca, then Cristian Tello; Cole was a man possessed and deserves much
of the plaudits.
