Looking Positively To Stamford Bridge

After a day of throwing brick-bats at each other, both Barca and Chelsea fans have slowly settled with the reality of the situation at Ground zero. Even the Spanish and English media are in the same mood - the article by Kevin McCarra in the Guardian is a prime example of that. Chelsea fans after a night of Euphoria has slowly understood the dangers held in the second leg. Barca fans and media after a night of dissappointment has settled to accept the fact that a nil-nil result is not at all a bad result as been made out. There were a bit of dissappointment in the Spanish side after the draw, but that was mainly due to a fear that a repeat of last year was on the cards. Last year Manchester United came to Camp Nou, defended their life out and returned with a goal-less draw; they then won at home to kick Barca out of the Champions League. But then that Barca was different, it was a Barca which was struggling in all fronts and finished third in the league. In that match also Manchester United played the defensive game but was lucky that Barca gave them a oppurtunity to score and Paul Scholes neatly obliged. But this Barcelona side is different as they are on top of their game.

Indeed they were denied by absolute perfect defending by Chelsea. They didn't see many opening but they did create an almost perfect four opening, only to be denied by Cech and a lack of cool heads by their own players. But our midfield, eventhough did not create much opening was perfect in ball possession. People, especially English media will say - "What's there with Ball Possession, if you can't get the goals!". But there were positives to look at Stamford Bridge from the performance of our midfield. Chelsea midfield had Essien, Malouda, Lampard, Obei Mikel and Ballack in their ranks and we had the likes of Iniesta, Xavi and Toure. Out of the three Toure is the only one who has a physical built which could challenge any of those midfielders, but to their credit Barca midfield did creat some trouble for Chelsea, especially Iniesta. Mikel might have kept Xavi quiet from creating chances but not from retaining possession.

The two reason why Barca failed to create much of chances were the decision by Chelsea to lay deep in their half and most importantly a lack of pace. FC Barcelona played the game at a lower pace than they normally used to. This has to be predominantly attributed to the poor game Messi and Eto had. But with the tie remaining at 0-0, we can expect Chelsea to open up a bit towards the end of the second tie. Chelsea's startegy would be the same as the first leg and to neautralise that we have to take extreme caution not to give Cheap balls away to Chelsea at decent positions. If we manage to do that Chelsea eventually had to open up, giving us space to exploit. For what all Chelsea players and English media might claim, in football you have to score goals to win. And that makes the tie evenly poised.

NB: You will here claims from English media and Chelsea players about how they are going to attack Barca at Stamford Bridge. Don't give a damn to those, as we all know they will start playing the same way as in the first leg.

FC Barcelona vs Chelsea Pictures

FC Barcelona Player Rating against Chelsea on 28/04/09

Valdes - 7.5 - Had kind of a quite night apart for the double save against Drogba. That denied Chelsea an away goal. How valuable was the save we can say only in the second leg.

Alves - 7 - Was theatrical throughout the match. But defended well. He should stop his unnecesssary play acting as it cuts the rhythm of the side. His crosses were poor apart from the one which set up Bojan header.

Marquez - 5 - Not much to do throughout the match. But his mistake which put Drogba infront of goal could have been worst had Valdes failed to deny him. And the night was made worst by his injury.

Pique - 7.5 - Decent performance, especially against the might of Drogba. But like his partner he also gave away the ball in a dangerous position.

Abidal - 7.5 - Solid performance. He was good in the left flank cutting down Essien's every effort. Most probably will have a greater job in the second leg.

Xavi - 6.5 - Obei Mikel marked him out of the attack. Could not find the usual self in attack, but was good in defense and regaining possession. But in a high profile encounter like this we expected much more from him.

Toure - 7.5 - Solid as Usual. Cut off most of Chelsea's attack and always won well against a defensively minded Cheslea midfield. But held the ball a bit longer when Barca ventured to attack.

Iniesta - 8 - Was decent in attack and defense. May not have created havoc as expected. But was a constant menance for Chelsea. He was the only one in our attack who used a bit of imagination.

Messi - 6.5 - A bit of run here and there, and some shots from outside box, that summed up Messi's day. Bosingwa's decision not to get out of their box meant he had no space to maneouvure with.

Eto - 6 - Never linked well with any of the players. But created a gem of a chance, should had the composure to pass the ball to Henry who was left unmarked.

Henry - 6 - Not a great performance and faded rapidly after the injury. But did troubled Ivanovic with his pace early on.

Substitutes:

Puyol - 6.5 - He looked confident when he came in and almost had a good game but for that yellow card. Now he will be missing the return leg.

Bojan - 6 - Should have done better with the header, otherwise looked lively than Eto.

Hleb - 6 -Had a great chance but was denied by Cech.

Man Of The Match - Peter Cech