Drogba leads Chelsea to impressive victory

Chelsea 1 Barcelona 0:Didier Drogba's first-half strike gave Chelsea a narrow yet hugely impressive victory over European champions Barcelona in tonight's Champions League semi-final first leg clash at Stamford Bridge.

Totally against the run of play Drogba got on the end of Ramires’s cross in first-half injury-time and slotted past Victor Valdes to put Blues boss Roberto Di Matteo on for the greatest win of his managerial career.

Alexis Sanchez hit the bar and missed a sitter and Cesc Fabregas had a shot cleared off the line as Chelsea took a battering, but they held on to take a one-goal advantage to the Nou Camp for next week’s second leg.

Fabregas had taunted Chelsea over their long-ball tactics but they were effective early on. Petr Cech punted forward a 70-yard pass that found Drogba, but he mis-controlled.

The Ivorian then collected a Gary Cahill pass and dummied Javier Mascherano but his touch was poor again and Carles Puyol came to Barca’s rescue.

Despite Drogba’s early chances, Barca dominated possession and came within a whisker of scoring in the ninth minute when Andres Iniesta chipped the Chelsea defence to release Sanchez but his lob struck the bar.

Back at the other end a long throw-in caused a goal-mouth scramble. John Terry and Frank Lampard both failed to connect and Cahill slid in but could not hit the target.

Lionel Messi had been having a quiet game until the 18th minute when he beat three Chelsea players and found Iniesta. Cech palmed the midfielder’s shot straight in to the path of Fabregas, but he shinned his shot wide.

Iniesta turned Cahill brilliantly before going down under pressure from the England defender. Iniesta appealed for a penalty but referee Felix Brych waved play on.

Chelsea were struggling to get hold of the ball and even started to look a bit tired chasing the visitors.

The Spaniards were content playing some patient build-up play but they tested Cech twice within a matter of minutes around the half hour mark.

The goalkeeper saved at his near post from Fabregas and then dived to his right to stop a Messi header.

Ashley Cole put in a crucial block to deny Dani Alves as Barca continued to dominate the game.

With three minutes of the half to go, Messi dispossessed John Obi Mikel and found Fabregas, who lifted the ball over Cech, but Cole sprinted back to clear off the line.

Then with 10 seconds of the first half left Drogba gave the hosts a shock lead. Lampard found Ramires, he raced down the left and crossed to the back post where Drogba slotted home beyond Valdes.

Barca continued to dominate possession at the start of the second period and once again threatened through Messi, who would have hit the target had it not been for Cahill’s block.

Barca’s tight passing was made all the more impressive by the fact that they were now playing on a drenched pitch as the rain teemed down on the pitch at Stamford Bridge.

Adriano found space on the edge of the home box and slipped past Lampard into the box but Cech palmed out the Brazilian’s curling effort.

Cahill threw himself in the line of Messi’s shot and then put in a vital sliding tackle to deny Sanchez as he prepared to pull the trigger.

The Chile striker then wasted a glorious chance to equalise, side-footing wide from eight yards after being played in by a deft chip by Fabregas.

Messi used wondrous skill to keep hold of the ball and shrug off four Chelsea players to make it in to the box but Cahill was there to intercept and clear.

Messi again charged at the Chelsea defence, beating Raul Meireles and Mikel but Terry this time stopped the Argentina striker.

Mascherano accused Drogba of diving when the striker went to ground for the umpteenth time and the striker caused further fury when play had to be stopped after he was apparently struck in the groin by Puyol.

Ramires carelessly cut down Messi just outside the box in the 69th minute, giving Barca a free-kick in a very dangerous position but Xavi blazed over.

Pedro became the first Barcelona player to be booked after he tripped Cole as he counter-attacked down the left.

Di Matteo brought on Salomon Kalou for Juan Mata with 17 minutes left and Busquets entered the book soon after for a silly tackle on Ramires.

Pep Guardiola introduced young La Masia graduate Thiago Alcantara for Fabregas in a bid to breathe more life into Barca.

The visitors started to play like they had done in the first half and almost equalised four minutes from time when Puyol flicked on Messi’s free-kick but Cech pulled off a world-class save to deny the defender.

Di Matteo brought on Jose Bosingwa for Ramires a minute later in a bid to shore up the Blues’ defence.

The fourth official showed three minutes of injury-time on his board, shredding more nerves among the tense home support.

In the last of those three minutes, Pedro curled the ball onto the post and Busquets cleared the bar by 10 metres with the rebound to round off a disappointing night for the defending champions.