Pep Guardiola wasn’t a particularly happy man after Barcelona’s 0-0 bore draw at home to Chelsea in mid-week. He wasn’t happy with the way Chelsea played and he wasn’t happy that his team failed to score at home for the first time this season.
Fierce
In a big week for Guardiola and the club there was no respite at the weekend as they travelled to their fierce rivals Real Madrid. With Real just four points behind them in the league, this was a crucial game and one in which Guardiola could not afford to rest players ahead of the second leg at Chelsea in the coming week.
Of course, a 0-0 draw would have been a decent result for Barcelona so maybe Guardiola would organise his troops to play a Chelsea type defensive game to ensure that they picked up the point that would almost guarantee them the title.
Scintillating
That’s not how the man or the team work. They put on a scintillating display against a team who, although I have questioned how good they actually are, did manage to get the knockout stage of the Champions League and are sitting second in La Liga, so they can’t be that bad, and absolutely ripped them apart.
After the incredible 6-2 win at The Bernabeu, Guardiola was understandably proud and excited.
“It is not easy to win at the Bernabeu and this is one of the happiest days of my footballing life, as we have made a lot of people happy. We have taken a very big step towards winning the title. We wanted to kill it, to kill the league here. It’s a very sweet night winning at this stadium and in front of these fans. It is not going to hurt ahead of the Chelsea game, either. It’s going to put us in very good shape. We are going there to seal our place in the Champions League final.”
In the game, Higuain had put Real Madrid ahead and at some stage in the proceedings Sergio Ramos also found the Barcelona net, but doubles from Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry and further goals from Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique wrapped up an emphatic, impressive and confidence boosting win.
Shell
Anyone who thought that Chelsea might come out of their shell and play a more expansive game at Stamford Bridge this week, especially after Guus Hiddink played both Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka up front together in their 3-1 derby win over Fulham, will have had that idea firmly squashed by this Barcelona performance.
To be fair to Guus Hiddink, he cannot try to take on Barcelona in an open attacking game because he knows that his side would be ripped apart. His job is to win the cup for Chelsea. He will do what he thinks he needs to do in order to achieve that. Even the dimmest of coaches could see that defend and counter attack is the only chance they have. Hiddink is far from being dim.
Fractious
Guardiola has done a great job to take his side, who were fractious and fractured before he took over and hadn’t won La Liga since 2006, to the verge of domestic and European glory. Even he couldn’t have thought things would go this well.
Having said that, of course, defeat at Chelsea would be a bitter blow. It is not something that Guardiola or his players will even contemplate and they have good reason to take that attitude. With one hundred league goals to their name, a nineteenth La Liga title almost in the bag, three strikers who have scored over ninety goals between them, half of the European Championship winners Spain’s midfield and the player who is almost certainly the current best in the world, they have every reason to feel confident.
Shocked
Real Madrid were left shell shocked by this game, just as they were at Liverpool in the Champions League earlier on this season. Defensively they are poor and no team can be successful with a bad defence. Having said that, this Barcelona side are capable of making any defence look bad. I wonder if they can do it to John Terry and the rest of the Chelsea back nine four?
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