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.
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.
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