It might not prove to be enough in a week's time, but Chelsea restored the pride of the Barclays Premier League Wednesday night, with a 1-0 first leg victory over defending champion Barcelona. It was not pretty, but it’s a win that will have the Stamford Bridge faithful dreaming of a May journey to Munich.
Didier Drogba scored the only goal, and the Blues defended with cunning fortitude and the necessary requisite of good fortune to take a slim lead to the Camp Nou next Tuesday. In doing so, Chelsea became only the second team to hand Barcelona a loss in the last two Champions League campaigns, repeating the feat of their London neighbors, Arsenal, a year ago.
Barcelona rebounded from their loss last year at the Emirates to win handily, and it’s a commonly expected truth that Chelsea will face the same type of pressure next week. Yet, it must be said that the Blues both made and rode their luck to this famous triumph tonight. It will have done a world of good for their belief.
The victory was down to a perfect tactical approach from interim manager Roberto Di Matteo — a man who would have been signed to a long-term contract by now were it not for the fickleness of owner Roman Abramovich — and commitment of Chelsea’s players. Many had to stifle their natural instincts on the night, but they did it well.
Chelsea, despite remaining anchored in their own half, smartly played football on their feet and declined the kind of wild tackles Barcelona turns into dangerous free kicks. If it reminded folks of Jose Mourniho’s habit of parking the bus, it should. Chelsea forced everything into a congested middle, and batted everything away. Was it ugly? Sure, but profitable nonetheless.
The lone goal came against the run of play — indeed much of the night looked like it belonged to Barcelona — but that would be to misread the physiognomy of the match. The Catalans had much of the possession (70%), and missed chances that they might have taken on another evening. Yet, far too long they were reduced to a series of slow, meaningless passes 40 yards from goal. Barca ultimately faced a Blue wall that made no mistakes.
There was a standout game from oft-maligned Ashley Cole on one flank, a solid performance from January transfer-addition Gary Cahill and just enough powerful work from John Terry to hold everything together at the back. Raul Meireles chased Lionel Messi for long periods, and the rest of the midfield played zonal defense to such good effect that neither Xavi Hernandez nor Andres Iniesta, could execute their trademark incisive passes.
Messi was no magician tonight in London. He uncharacteristically coughed up the ball that led to Chelsea’s goal. The little Argentine looked quite mortal on free kicks, and spent far too much time near the halfway line trying to get enough possession to be dangerous. There were a couple of darting runs, a couple of telling passes — including the one in stoppage time which Pedro should probably have finished with a goal — but there were almost no shots and little sign of a Messi goal.
His Chelsea counterpart, Drogba, was the more effective striker despite that he had almost no attack to lead. The Ivorian operated as a lone man, and did it so well that two Barcelona defenders had to remain deep to contain his threat. Drogba was also effective at holding the ball to buy time for the Chelsea midfield. Though he will be criticized for his theatric, his presence was the true difference on the night. Drogba was a disruptive force, and he justified Di Matteo’s faith in picking him over Fernando Torres.
The only goal came after Messi slipped on the wet turf just before halftime, and appeared to have suffered a groin injury on the play. Tentative when play restarted, the unquestioned best player on the planet, was caught in possession by one of his many admirers, Frank Lampard. Lampard sent a 40-yard angled pass to allow Ramires in on the left that simply caught Barcelona by surprise. Keeper Victor Valdes reacted slowly when Ramires crossed for Drogba at the far post, and the scorer held off a chasing Adriano to punish Barcelona’s imprecision. The 34-year-old celebrated with a sliding salute to Chelsea’s supporters.
What Chelsea was not able to do, however, was to generate the type of second half pressure that might have netted them a second goal and put Barcelona on the ropes. Instead, Pep Guardiola and his team will think they deserved better. They missed a lot of chances, hitting the woodwork twice, scuffing easy shots and had the ball cleared once off the line.
None of the misses were more important than the ninth minute chip from Alexis Sanchez that hit the crossbar over a wide open net. That seemed to set the tone; Barcelona would have more of the ball, but became increasingly unable to do anything positive with possession.
Sanchez also flubbed a 56th minute opportunity, and was summarily brought off by Josep Guardiola. Cesc Fabregas had two opportunities denied by Petr Cech and Cole. The rest of the time, Barcelona were left to punch away at a defense that was not going to be deceived.
The main question will be how Chelsea will handle defending their advantage next week. In between, there’s the little matter of playing at Arsenal on Saturday with vital league points at stake.
For Barcelona, with Real Madrid on the horizon, this was not the result they wanted. Their reputation for responding to challenges will be sorely tested in the next six days.
