An incredible 2º leg semi-final of the Champions League with
CHELSEA FC drawing 1-1 with FC BARCELONA but being knocked
out due to the away goal advantage. A goal that came Barça´s way
with 10 men down & in overtime with an outside of the box shot
by INIESTA that found the back of the net. An authentic miracle
that no one expected as it was Barcelona very last grasp at luck
that paid off & crushed Chelsea into disbelief.
FC Barcelona started without Henry, Puyol (suspended) & Marquez
(injured), vital key players & they patched it up with Toure in
defence, Keita in his place in the midfield & Iniesta on the wing.
Not their natural set up & that showed throughout the whole game,
as Chelsea responded with a solid wall in defence that cancelled the
remaining playmakers like Xavi, Messi & Alves.
In fact, it was Chelsea that got ahead via a “cracker” from
ESSIEN ( see video below) in the 8th min that made Barça nervous
& anxious leading to mistakes in their passing & play. Quiet frankly
they were out of place & Chelsea was dominating making Barça
goalie Valdes make some vital stops to “save the day” throughout
the game.
The 2ºhalf was much of the same; allow Barça to attack & block
their attacks via heavy psychical pressuring in the midfield. Then
ABIDAL saw his second yellow card which converted itself into a
Red & was sent off leaving Barça with 10 men. It looked like an
impossible feat to turn around the result as Chelsea was in total
control & Barça desperate without any real ideas.
Then the miracle happened, with just one chance left & in
overtime Messi laid a ball in the path of Iniesta who converted
it into a goal that drew the match & gave Barcelona the ticket
to the Rome 27th of May Final against Manchester United. It was
increidible & unbelievable at the sametime, no one could
believe what had just happened except Barcelona. See the
winning goal on the below video.
Yes, Chelsea may claim they were cheated as a couple of
handballs (especially one from Pique) were not called. Effectively,
Chelsea played better & cancelled the Barcelona game plan, but
this is Football & sometimes you win sometimes you lose. Great
match & Chelsea put up a brilliant fight, it nearly paid off.
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