Chelsea 1 Barcelona 0CHELSEA WILL take a narrow, yet precious, lead with them to Camp Nou. Whether that is enough to establish them as favourites to reach the final is open to debate but they are entitled to relish this victory and have at least shown that this formidable, often mesmeric Barcelona side can be beaten with the right levels of effort, organisation and good luck.
They won courtesy of Didier Drogba’s breakaway goal at the end of a first half in which Barcelona had seemed in utter control. After that, they had to endure another 45 minutes of unrelenting pressure.
Barcelona pinned their opponents back at times. They hit the crossbar, saw chances cleared off the goalline. There was some brilliant goalkeeping from Petr Cech and, in the end, missed more opportunities than they will care to remember. They did everything, in fact, apart from score.
For long spells Barcelona simply reminded us of their favourite obsession, keeping the ball and exerting a sense of superiority. There are not too many sides in Europe who have the nerve to play with what is essentially a front four and they were quickly in the groove, knocking the ball around, left and right, short and long, waiting for the opening.
The philosophy is that giving the ball away is a sin, and yet that is exactly what happened for Drogba’s goal. The guilty man, of all people, was Lionel Messi. A few moments earlier the best footballer on the planet had gone to ground after being clipped by Raul Meireles.
When play restarted Frank Lampard dispossessed Messi just inside the Chelsea half and immediately looked to send Ramires running clear on the inside-left channel. Ramires took the ball on his chest, advanced towards the penalty area and turned the ball into the centre for Drogba to beat Victor Valdes with a left-foot shot.
It was virtually the last kick of the first half and as the players headed to the tunnel, Messi still shaking his head, it felt almost like a trick of the imagination that Chelsea were ahead.
It had been a story of almost unremitting pressure until that point, with Barcelona working those elaborate, triangular passing moves, picking up speed as they advanced. Pep Guardiola’s side will reflect that at that stage they could already have killed the tie.
The first shudder of apprehension in the home stands arrived after nine minutes when Andres Iniesta sent Alexis Sanchez running clear and the Chilean lifted his shot over the oncoming Cech only for it to come back off the crossbar.
Soon afterwards, Messi set off on his first slalom through the Chelsea defence, beat a couple of men and played the ball into Iniesta’s path. His shot was parried by Cech and Chelsea escaped only because Cesc Fabregas could not get a clean contact on the follow-up. It was the type of chance the former Arsenal midfielder would usually score blindfolded. The tone was set.
Chelsea’s tactics were far less refined. Drogba’s inclusion ahead of Fernando Torres gave the home side a battering ram to get at Carles Puyol and Javier Mascherano. Yet Drogba’s most effective contribution at times was the frequency with which he he went to ground, signalling that he was hurt. It can be a tiresome habit, but it did at least temporarily disrupt the flow of the game and, in doing so, disrupt Barca’s momentum.
Barcelona must have felt bruised to be behind at half-time. There were times when they looked brilliant. Yet there were moments, too, when they did not look like they were enjoying themselves.
These were moments that lifted the Chelsea crowd. Iniesta, pursued by Branislav Ivanovic, could not stop the ball going out for a goal-kick. It would be exaggerating to say Barcelona were rattled – but it was not far off at times. Mostly, they just kept on pressing forward. It was not an easy thing to keep count of their attempts at goal.
Sanchez, once again, let off Chelsea with the generosity of his finishing, turning a 56th-minute shot past the post. Fabregas, too, was unusually lax in front of goal.
When he did beat Cech, a couple of minutes before Drogba’s goal, Ashley Cole saved Chelsea with a goalline clearance.
As inferior as they were, there was some supreme defending from Chelsea at times.
There was also Cech to save them with the outstanding save of the match, keeping out Puyol’s header with three minutes to go. Even then, there was more drama as Pedro hit the post in the final moments of stoppage-time.
Chelsea’s jubilation was understandable but they will know, too, that a team of this refinement will still believe the tie can be turned upside down in Barcelona next Tuesday.
CHELSEA: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill,Terry, Cole, Mikel, Lampard,Meireles, Ramires (Bosingwa 88), Mata (Kalou 74), Drogba. Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Essien, Torres,Malouda, Sturridge. Booked: Ramires, Drogba.
BARCELONA: Valdes,Dani Alves,Puyol,Mascherano,Adriano,Busquets, Iniesta, Xavi (Cuenca 86), Messi, Sanchez (Pedro 66), Fabregas (Thiago 78). Subs not used: Pinto, Pique, Bartra, Keita. Booked: Pedro,Busquets.
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany).
