Champions League Semi-Final: Barcelona 0-0 Chelsea

Last night saw Chelsea and Barcelona play the first leg of their fourth meeting in the Champions League since 2000. Prior to this tie, Barcelona were ahead of Chelsea by two wins to one.

This game was eagerly awaited as the experienced Guus Hiddink pitted his wits against the inexperienced Pep Guardiola.

Threat

The big fear for Chelsea was whether they would be able to deal with Barcelona’s attacking threat. After conceding four goals at home to Liverpool in the last round, the thought of facing Eto’o, Henry and Messi can hardly have been an appealing one.

Remarkably, the Barcelona trio have scored more goals between them this season than the entire Chelsea team have! Henry has bagged twenty-four, Eto’o thirty-two and the mercurial Lionel Messi, thirty-four.

Suspended

The biggest threat was likely to be Lionel Messi, especially as Chelsea were without the suspended Ashley Cole. Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink was confident that Jose Bosingwa could keep the Barcelona winger quiet.

“I have full confidence Bosingwa can do the job on Tuesday. We have some more options, but if he is doing well he can do the job.”

Hiddink was very well aware of the threat Barcelona posed to his side,

“If you go to a double man-marking system and focus too much on that you forget there are other big players that can do the damage. A lot of teams have shown that it is very difficult to stop them. The front line is world class, Henry has class and experience and Samuel Eto’o I had as a young player at Real Madrid when he was 17. At that time he was already impressive and then he got titles and experience.”

Despite the genuine threat that Barcelona possess, Hiddink insisted that Chelsea would also be looking to attack,

“Both teams have the style to attack when they can. Chelsea is not a team with a strategy to sit back and wait until something happens. The team is showing a lot of initiative. It is more or less an open clash between two teams who like to go forward.”

This was not a ‘one-way appreciation society’ and Guardiola was also very well aware of the threat posed by Chelsea,

“I am very impressed with Chelsea, they are a powerful team and a lot stronger than us, so we must keep hold of the ball and make the difference at home. Our intention is to play our usual style which means attacking while at the same time making sure that we do not concede a goal. I saw in Chelsea’s game against Liverpool the danger they pose in the air especially from Drogba and so we have to be careful to concede as few free-kicks and corners as possible. Chelsea have more to their game though than just power and if you let them play then they can create a lot of danger with footballers who can run 20 or 30 yards with a ball and we just have to be aware of that. We have played other teams though that have a similar approach to Chelsea so we do know what to expect.”

So, were the two managers right to be concerned about the other?

Well, you may wonder why so much of this article is dedicated to what people thought was going to happen. The reason is that when the game finally took place after all the build up, nothing actually happened.

Nasty looking knee injury for Marquez, booking and suspension for Puyol. Great chances for Henry, Bojan and Hleb for Barcelona and Ballack and Drogba for Chelsea. Barcelona attacked a lot and Chelsea defended a lot. There you go, that’s a full report of the proceedings!

One team

Watching a game where only one team is trying to win is never particularly enjoyable. Whatever Hiddink said before the game, his side were definitely not in the game at all as an attacking side, although arguably the two best chances did fall to them.

Whatever we all say about the brilliance of Barcelona, their pretty football rarely looked particularly threatening.

Disappointment

All in all this game was a major disappointment and whilst the second leg is beautifully poised with neither team having much of an advantage, for two of the best teams in the world, this was a turgid affair.

I just hope that Manchester United and Arsenal can produce something more entertaining tonight.