After the slick performance of Manchester United against Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final, I expected another great match between Barcelona and Chelsea in the other semi-final. This coming after the 6-2 thrashing of Real Madrid by Barcelona in last week's La Liga, the match between Chelsea and Barca though was exciting for other reasons. Josep Guardiola said that Barca will continue playing their style of football, he said that sexy football is the only style Barca know how to play.
Though it was not sexy football, Barcelona started their usual selves with attacking football, but this time Chelsea seem to put the shackles on them more effectively compared to the first leg, this might be because the pitch dimensions is slightly smaller to the Nou Camp. Nevertheless Barca were still piling on until Michael Essien scored for Chelsea early in the second-half with a cracking volley, it was a lucky break for Chelsea after all the possesion by Barca.
Drogba meanwhile tried his best to get penalties from the ref and did not achieve that "goal". Eric Abidal though got sent-off for a foul on Anelka which was dubious whether he slipped or did it on purpose nobody will know (At least for this incident), but Abidal had no part to play and was shown the red card for that offence as he was the last defender.
Guus Hiddink sensing a win or a Drogba send-off for his antics for claiming penalties took him out in just a minute after that Anelka incident. The ref was psychologically affected with his decision making after this and the match was getting a bit "off colour".
With 4 minutes of injury time added and Chelsea leading 1-0 it looked like it was the end of the road for Barca with only a minute of inury time left, but Iniesta slammed the ball in to the top left corner to seal the win, Chelsea tried to claim a penalty after that goal when there was clear hand ball by Yaya Toure and Pique, but like I said his decision making was affected. Michael Ballack practically man handled the ref in protest for not giving the penalty and when the final whistle blew all hell broke lose, Chelsea did not want to leave the field arguing with the ref. Drogba went chasing him and even argued with the viewers!! Looking into the camera and also asking the camera man to buzz off, it showed the true character of Chelsea.
PS
Watch out for this week's Premier League Match between Arsenal and Chelsea also titled as the "Ultimate loser's Champions league" match , get your tickets fast!
Comments
What Drogba said to the viewers was "It's a disgrace...it's a fucking disgrace..!". Yup, he was so disgusted with the ref that he would have sent the fat bald man into orbit! I saw the whole match and I personally think that IT WAS A DISGRACE, the way the ref handled the match that is! It's nothing on Barca though. They huffed and puffed and finally blew the walls down on Chelsea with that amazing Iniesta shot! It's gonna be a final to remember and I have a feeling that in the 10th year anniversary of that great final against Bayern Munich, Europe is gonna see RED! :)