Barcelona edge out Chelsea

FC Barcelona march into the finals of the Champions League after defeating Chelsea in a thrilling encounter, thanks to an Andres Iniesta thunder drive in the dying minutes of the stoppage time. Although luck favoured Chelsea reducing Barca to ten men, their perseverance paid off in the end.

Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona

Chelsea had to keep their concentration for just 70 more seconds when a 10 men Barcelona - who kept their passing game alive - scored a spectacular equaliser through Andres iniesta. Although named as the best goalkeeper in the English Premier League, Petr Cech did not have any reply when Barcelona tested him for the first time in the match.

The Lucky Chelsea goal

The ninety plus four minutes of football at the Stamford Bridge had everything in it - action, adventure, drama and theatrics. Micheal Essien produced the 'goal of the tournament', which was nothing but sheer luck turning a ridiculous shot into goal, in the ninth minute. It was one of the rare moments when Chelsea sniffed the Barecelona penalty box, thankfully Essien getting that one miraculously right !

Pass, pass and pass

The Spanish team had better control of the ball and they enjoyed the very best of possession in both halves. Guardiola had stated that he will not stand back and defend like Chelsea did in the first leg, and he kept his promise even by using a make-shift back wall with Yaya Toure replacing the suspended Carles Puyol. The Barca boss send in his faithful Sergio Busquets to cover the midfield along with Keita to do the Henry job. There was only one thing in mind for the Barca players - pass the ball - and they did that brilliantly. Toure, Pique, Xavi, Busquets and Alves joined the attack along with Iniesta, Xavi and Messi. Keita had some efforts at the goal in the first half but none were on target. The top goalscorer in the La Liga, Eto'o was rather quiet, Terry and Alex were superb at the back cutting the supply coming on to him. Lionel Messi could not do a lot, but, he never lost the ball even when he was was covered by three defenders most times. But, it seemed like Chelsea would never allow Barca to enter the attacking territory and the number of shots on target by the Blaugranas stand proof for this. The only shot on target they had was the goal - in the 92nd minute! - very unlike Barcelona.

Chelsea, on the other hand, were keen on stopping the Barcelona players from passing into dangerous positions. They allow Barca to creep in through the wings, but, they had five or six men in the box always. Dani Alves found lot of space in the right wing, but, was very poor in crossing, most of his crosses were out of the pitch or found no favourable heads. It was not a half-hearted effort, but, it seemed he could not get himself accustomed to the very short width of the Stamford Bridge pitch. The Blues had everything planned and they defended according to the plan. They had all their first team players, everyone fit, including Ashley Cole who missed the first leg. There was nothing much they could do than sit and defend, the old style, nine men behind the ball. On e of the few occassions when they challenged Barca's domination with the ball possession, was when Malouda broke free of the left hand side and was challenged by Alves just outside the box. The French international wanted a penalty, all the Chelsea players thought it was a penalty, tv replays showed it was not and the official was right.

The Drogba Theatrics

Later in the first half, Didier Drogba stormed into the penalty box and the not-so confident Abidal tripped the Ivory coast international down, which looked like a penalty from behind. The Norwegian referee waved off protest. The luck that Chelsea had in the first leg - a penalty decision against Iniesta, Ballack and Alex surviving red cards - did not help him this time, the Drogba theatrics didn't seemed to work out this time. A temperamental Drogba, replaced by Guus Hiddink in the second half, came out of the bench after the match to scream into the TV camera and to say that the officals had been a "disgrace".

Bad Decision, Ref!

After the half time, luck did seem to favour Chelsea when Eric Abidal was sent off for a tackle that he never did on Nicholas Anelka. In the interview, Abidal said that it was Anelka who pushed him instead! The incident happened in the 66th minute when Anelka and Abidal where running hard to get to the ball which was near the Barca penalty box, Anelka went down in a rather theatrical manner, which the Ref thought was a clear penalty. It was a decision that was unfair and unjust, a decision that could have sent Barca back home packing.

Fortune favours the brave

Moments later, the luck favoured Barca this time, Gerard Pique's hand touching the ball which could have been gone to Anelka who was waiting to pounce onto it. The Ref dismissed the protests of the Chelsea players as it was not a deliberate attempt to stop the ball. Pique had been consistent in defence, contributed in Barcelona's attack and retrieving the ball back, and the benefit of doubt helped him from conceding a penalty. It was Pique's attempts to stay forward put Chelsea into trouble as the big man had to be marked by some one as good as John Terry. In the late, late minutes of the stoppage time, Terry was busy marking Pique in the Chelsea penalty box, leaving Iniesta to take a shot just 15 metres away from Petr Cech.

Some of the Chelsea and English Premier League fans might feel it was hard on Chelsea, but, Barcelona deserved to win the match. In truth, the match was a poor one in quality even though it was a thriller!

Man of the Match: Andres Iniesta