Champions League quarter-finals – Advantage Chelsea and Barcelona – Game over for Liverpool and Bayern

With Porto and Arsenal making themselves favourites to go through on Tuesday evening it was the turn of the other half of the draw last night.

Bayern Munich had the daunting task of a visit to Barcelona and Liverpool entertained Chelsea in their annual Champions League match-up.

Crisis

In the first game, Barcelona were missing Abidal and Milito but had an otherwise fit squad whilst Bayern faced something of a defensive crisis. Including the nineteen year old Breno, they had just two fit central defenders. Hardly ideal when facing some of the most talented forward’s in the world.

Just to add to Jurgen Klinsmann’s woes, striker Miroslav Klose and world class full-back Lahm, were also missing with injury.

History was on the side of the Germans who had won three and drawn one of their previous four meetings with the Catalan giants, but current form wasn’t. Barcelona won at the weekend through an Eto’o goal whilst Bayern crashed to a humiliating 5-1 defeat.

Overcome the odds

So, could Bayern Munich overcome the odds and shock the Champions elect of La Liga?

The answer was an emphatic no. The simple fact was that Bayern Munich were totally blown away in the first half at the Camp Nou. Two goals from Lionel Messi, surely the next world player of the year, and one each from Eto’o and Henry, saw Barcelona 4-0 up before half-time.

Pace

With Bayern Munich missing some important defenders the fear was always that they would be ripped apart at the back. Sadly for them, they were. They defended with a worrying ineptitude.

Having said that, I’m not sure any team in Europe or even the World, would have lived with Barcelona in that first forty-five minutes.

Brilliance

The brilliance of Barcelona’s forward play left Bayern chasing shadows. The only consolation for the Germans was that the second half remained goal less.

Although Bayern were better after the break Barcelona still had more of the chances. They should have had a penalty and Bayern probably should have been reduced to ten men.

Scintillating

It is difficult to put into words just how good Barcelona were. They were quite simply scintillating.

On the other hand, English referee Howard Webb had a nightmare in the game, booking Messi for diving when a clear penalty should have been awarded. Why are English referees so bad?

Remarkable

In the other game Liverpool and Chelsea faced each other for the ninth time in Europe and remarkably the fifth season in a row in this competition.

Honours have been fairly even over those five years. In fact, in all competitions, prior to last night they had played each other twenty-two times during that period with Chelsea having won slightly more with nine wins to Liverpool’s seven and six draws.

Form

European form seemed to favour Liverpool who went into the game unbeaten in eight European games and on a run of four straight victories. Chelsea, on the other hand, hadn’t won in seven away games.

Liverpool were without the suspended Javier Mascherano and injured Benayoun but had an otherwise full squad to choose from. Chelsea’s injury problems had eased and they were delighted to welcome back Didier Drogba.

Everything pointed to this one being a very close and tense affair.

Answer

Was it? Well, the answer to that was also an emphatic no. Liverpool took an early lead when Torres expertly finished a good Liverpool move. Chelsea sounded a warning when they immediately created a great chance to equalise which was spurned by the excellent Didier Drogba.

Liverpool continued to look good but Chelsea were playing as well as they had played since the opening day of the season. It was great to watch as both teams were playing somewhere near their best.

Great job

Chelsea managed to stop Liverpool functioning as Michael Essien did a great job of man marking Steven Gerrard. He was rendered totally ineffective.

As it turned out it was Liverpool’s total inability to defend set pieces that cost them dearly. Ivanovic scored a deserved equaliser from a corner with an unchallenged header.

Rest

Half-time came with the score level and gave everyone a chance to have a rest after a hectic first half.

The second half saw Chelsea playing so well that even Malouda started to look like a decent player! Once again, Ivanovic scored his second goal with another free header from a corner. These were his first two goals for Chelsea and he must wish he faced this type of zonal marking every week.

Downside

The only downside for Chelsea was a silly challenge from John Terry on Pepe Reina which led to a yellow card and his suspension from the second leg.

Chelsea scored a third goal that certainly didn’t flatter them when Malouda squared the ball for Drogba who finished from close range.

Great performance

This was a truly great performance from Chelsea who would have come into this game with some fear. The tie is surely over and only an incredible performance from Rafa Benitez’s men would see them turn around the deficit they suffered last night.

Semi-finals

So after these first leg ties it looks like the semi-finals could be Porto v Arsenal and Barcelona v Chelsea. The winners must come from the second game mustn’t they?