UEFA Champion's League 08/09 - discussion thread

This is very tough to call right now. You kinda get the feeling that if anyone can beat Barca right now, its Chelsea. Lampard and Drogba are gonna be the key to this one. Drogba's the only forward at the moment that I wouldnt bet against right now.
 
Yeah I agree and I think with Essien playing they have a chance as he can really prevent Xavi and Iniesta from playing their normal game.

If you sit off Barca and allow them to play their passing game they will destroy you but if you get at them and dont give them time or space on the ball then you have a much better chance of beating them, and Essien will be key to this.

I expect a very close game over the 2 legs, although the way things have been going lately, a 6-4 aggregate score would not suprise me! :SMUG:
 
I think it depends on the first 30 minutes of the game, where Barca seem to always score. If you look at their last 5 or so matches, they usually score under 20 minutes and seal the game there and then. They start fast therefore Chelsea being able to block them will work in their favour imo.
 
Jumbo_ said:
Yeah I agree and I think with Essien playing they have a chance as he can really prevent Xavi and Iniesta from playing their normal game.

If you sit off Barca and allow them to play their passing game they will destroy you but if you get at them and dont give them time or space on the ball then you have a much better chance of beating them, and Essien will be key to this.

I expect a very close game over the 2 legs, although the way things have been going lately, a 6-4 aggregate score would not suprise me! :SMUG:
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I kinda disagree about letting them have the ball, Thats exactly what we did last season. Let them have it but once they got into our half or final third it was like a wall! and with their defence a ball over the top to Drogba is the way to go.
 
Barca is the best team in the world for me right now but they aren't perfect and can definitely be beaten by the right team on the right day and the right team could be Chelsea.

They are impressive in so many ways which doesn't even need to be spoken about cuz everybody knows! They're just awesome! But one weakness I see is they can be vulnerable in the air. The team lacks height somewhat and isn't the tallest or most aerially dominant. Even the guys who ARE tall like Henry or Yaya Toure aren't the greatest in the air. On the other hand of course, guys like Milito and Puyol aren't even 180cm's despite playing CB position but they have great leaps on them and can jump very high! But still winning these duels against taller and more powerful players like Ballack, Drogba, or Terry will prove to be a challenge.

If a taller more physically strong team like Chelsea manages to get the ball 'in the air' for a good portion of the play through crosses or long-balls or even goal-kicks, rather than always on the ground, I can see Barca losing many 1-on-1 aerial battles which could play a role in the outcome of the match. Both in the box which can create goal-scoring chances and out in the open field in center during normal play where guys like Lampard and Ballack can rise aboves the likes of Xavi and Iniesta and nod the ball to someone else and keep possession.

And I'm not suggesting, Chelsea just hoof up the ball up high and long like old-school boring football. I'm just saying that against a team like Barca which is seemingly perfect apart from this one little weakness perhaps, it's worth it to try to channel the ball aerially at times. Perhaps more often than you would in a lot of other matches against other EPL teams like Bolton where that would actually probably be a BAD idea.

EDIT:
So I agree that IF there's a team that can beat Barca, it probably is Chelsea but it won't be easy and they need to make this supposed 'advantage' over Barca in terms of aerial presence and height count! They need to make excellent use of their FK's and corner-kicks. So it'll be of the utmost importance that side-players like Ashley Cole, Bosingwa and Malouda have their crossing boots on for this game and deliver dangerous balls.
Either way, I hope to see a good battle. May the best team go through.
 
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Another point that was mentioned in the press was that with Ashley Cole banned for the game, Bosingwa is gonna be given the task of marking Messi (playing at LB, out of position).
What do people here think of that battle?
 
I think They'll have pretty much LB and CB on Messi at all times and whoever plays RW will probably be told to track him aswell.
 
That's what I was saying before. You can stop messi, but you then have Iniesta or Xavi free on the center of the pitch or Henry in the other side, because 2 defenders have to take care of etoo. Barcelona wins because it's incredibly offensive.

About last year, it was a very different team. Every team that has given the ball to barcelona has been battered. Apart from aerial play (which PLF rightly marks), there's another weakness of barcelona, and that one is breaking the pace. Barcelona has had problems with teams making fouls again and again, breaking the rhythm of the match and pressing like mad men to Pique Marquez and Toure, that happens to be the real start of play for barcelona. Once the ball gets tho the final third with Xavi, Iniesta and Messi, you're done, so you have to press very high in the field. That, of course, if you can keep this the whole match and the referee lets you foul the players constantly. It happened against Espanyol (with Keita being sent off by no reason, I should add) and against Getafe, and Barcelona was unable to win either match.
 
I agree about Xavi and Iniesta but Chelsea IMO are lucky to have a player in the class of Essien. I think Essien and Ballack will be able to do a job(Mainly Essien). It really is a case of Chelsea being best equipped for Barcelona.
 
Yah of course the other possible weakness which Barca has is that Valdes is a good goalie. In fact under-rated by many I feel. But not world-class like many of Barca's other players. He did well today though as did Cech whose confidence in recent weeks has been low and did have a couple 'moments' in this game as well as well as many useless goal-kick gift give-aways to Barca by just simply kicking the ball to nowhere, but he definitely saved Chelsea a couple times with great shot-stopping abilities as well.

Barca could've scored if Eto'o hadn't been selfish after that amazing run past Alex and kicking ball between JT's legs and squaring the ball for Henry for a simple tap in but he wanted ALL the glory and Cech saved his shot.

The aerial weakness wasn't as big a factor today because Barca chose to play Pique (a very good decision it seemed) and Yaya had a great game also. Iniesta once again looking like Barca' most dangerous player. Messi rather quiet in 2nd half.

Was surprised to see captain Carles start on bench in favour of Marquez but he came on and got some action anyway and unfortunately yellow-carded for trip to Stamford Bridge which I think will be a key loss for Barca as it's not just world-class defender but their inspiration! Their heart!

I love Xavi and he has earned the vice-captaincy through his loyalty and service to the club. But at the end of the day, he's not REALLY captain material. Just like Lampard isn't AS good a captain as John Terry is in my opinion and I don't rate Xavi's leadership skills as high as Frank either.

Anyway a 0-0 but not a boring match. Looking forward to 2nd leg where anything can happen but Chelsea deserve credit for being the first team to not have conceded a goal against mighty Barca and their super-hero attacking forces lol in a mighty loooooong time but Barca didn't play bad either. Dominated possession, chance creations and did overall look like the better team without getting the win of course. Good performance by both teams in a way I'd say and most players on the park. Yet a clean-sheet isn't a bad result for them either. As they are well capable of scoring and could tie the game 1-1, 2-2 or even more in London.

Sets up a very unpredictable (anything is possible) 2nd leg in 8 days. Looking very much forward to it!
 
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Twas a victory for football tonight, playing like that in a semi final is disgusting.
 
I was rooting for Barça, and although I hate the way Chelsea plays, it is effective. There were also some dodgy decisions by the ref. I'd say overall Chelsea deserved to go the final, but I prefer Barça's Joga Bonito Style.

It was my dream final and here it is. :)
 
The way that chelsea played wasn't even called Italian cattenaccio it was just attack, score, way 80 minutes for the game to end.
Im realistic and barcelona didn't deserve it, but they in the end deserved it for their constant belif of scoring the winning goal, and what a goal.
 
neh, but i actually prefer this

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In the first match Barcelona deserved a win and today Chelsea deserved it. The ref had some dodgy decisions, I agree, and there was a clear penalty in the last minutes that could have sealed it for Chelsea(although I didn't think Abidal should have been sent out).

But Chelsea today, in my opinion, was a f@#~€5ing disgrace, as Didier shouted at the end. They DIVED all the time in a very shaming way and when they where 11 against 10, they didn't stop defending catenaccio. At the end, the most ambitious team went on. Honestly, both of them have the right to be in the final. But it's barça and I'm so happy. Now to play against Manchester with who-knows-which defenders (Alves, Abidal and Marquez won't play).

Edit: Guardiola has been terrific all the season but today he did some very bad decisions. Putting Touré in defense and Busquets and Keita in the middle was a disaster. We played the worst match this season. I hope he learns the lesson and put Touré again as DMF and forget about putting Keita and Busquets together. We loose creativity and passing pace and that makes us weak in deffense.
 
one of the biggest robbery of football tonight.

that ref will never be in a championsleague match again... that was disgusting.

i can understand ballack and drogba for their enrage...
 
this was the biggest robbery in football history, ref has luck that this was in england, if he did that in croatia or serbia, even policeman would beat him.
 
As a Manchester United fan I sat down to watch the game with no nerves and a smile knowing we'd already made it. I wanted Barcelona to win for two reasons one being we've faced Chelsea last year and mainly IMO Man Utd V Barcelona is in football right now the 2 best sides going at it. trully a "Hollywood Final"

No doubt about it though if I was a Chelsea fan today I would feel like UEFA and the ref have cost them a place in the CL final no doubt about it. 3-4 pens which all on their day could have been given but the ref wasn't going to have any of it.

On the other side of the coin you have Barcelona, for the whole 2 legs I was saying Barcelona don't deserve the final for being so one dimensional but you gotta give them it. they NEVER changed the way they played and played the only way the club knows how and in the end their brilliant football payed off(with a huge brickload of luck). I feel for Chelsea but its the match I wanted and im pretty sure most football lovers wanted. :))

United, Barca, Ronaldo and Messi Who are the worlds best? :DD
 
you can say whatever you want about referee but at 1-0 Chelsea had to keep the score.
Chelsea are eliminated because Barcelona score a goal, but not because they didn't have 5 penalties...
the football is like this, of course it was penalty, but the referee didn't give a penalty, so the result is that the score is still 1-0 and if Barcelona score there's 1-1.

and Drogba can say what he want but the real f**** disgrace, as he said, is the 2 opportunities that he missed! this is a real shame!
 
What i don't get is why people say UEFA robbed Chelsea.
The referee made some bad decisions (but i think they were honest mistakes) but UEFA is not to blame if a referee makes mistakes...or did i miss something ???
 
The Pique handball was the only clear penalty for me.

The Malouda incident wasn't a foul let alone a free kick.

Drogba tumbled over despite their being no contact with his legs. Yes his shirt was tugged but it was minimal at best and certainly not enough to put him off.

The incident at the very end was ball to hand, the player was shielding his face.

Despite their ugly tactics, they had chances to win and they didn't take them.
 
Drogba complained throughout the whole game although this time i can say that he actually deserved a penalty, Anelka was horrible. Barca played with more heart and Valdes saved the game for em imo
 
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