In the end the short passing game of Barcelona was no match for obdurate defending by ten man Chelsea and to round off what was a frustrating night for the European Champions Fernando Torres popped up with half the pitch to himself and put the tie beyond doubt in the final minute.
With just a minute remaining in the first half, with Barcelona 2-0 and their opponents reduced to ten men for the most bizarre sending off incident since the 2006 World Cup Final, it seemed there could only be one result but then Chelsea scored, through the most unlikely of sources Ramires, and the task facing the hosts became harder, although not impossible. When they were awarded a penalty a few minutes into the second half it looked as if the tie was over but Lionel Messi hit the bar and for the next forty minutes we saw possibly the most one sided match (in terms of possession) in the competitions history.
So Chelsea will play either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the final in three weeks in Munich and as a neutral I would have to believe that Real Madrid's power will be the least favoured opponents for them. Chelsea will have four key players missing for the final through suspension: John Terry, Ramires, Ivanovic and Meireles.
Chelsea, with 12, are now ranked fifth in the list of most red cards in the Champions League behind PSV (13), Galatasaray (15), Internazionale (17) and Juventus (19).
3 comments:
When was the last time Barcelona lost 3 in a row?
I must say this one of the most exciting up/down (or through/not through) games I have ever seen.
Chelsea did very well but Barcelona missed the obvious trick of getting Alves around the back.
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