Barca played their worst game of the season and had a bit of luck. but ah go take it one shot on target one goal. it was all we needed
Maybe it was Barca's worst game of the season, but yuh have to give credit to Chelsea for dat.
From de time Essien did strike dah wonder goal so early in de match, it allowed Chelsea de freedom to play exactly like how they did at the Nou Camp last week.
Barca knew that and that messed up their original plans because they were counting on Chelsea playing more openly playing at home, needing to win. When that goal scored, Barca no longer had the luxury to play it cool...not with a defence like Chelsea's....which is why the pushed up even more than normal and were caught on the counter several times by Chelsea.
Drogba and Anelka put Barca's defence under a lot more pressure in this leg but I also felt that each of their penalty claims were correctly turned down by the ref. There was one in particular with Drogba and YaYa I think which at first glance I said penalty, but when the replay came up, it clearly showed he took ball. Great tackle.
When one looks at what Barca had to overcome to win this tie...
Early goal conceded
Formidable Chelsea defensive tactics (and I'm not being critical here)
No Puyol
No Marquez
Messi was a non factor
Wrong red card decision
Dominate possession a man down
Equalize a man down
Their victory was anything BUT lucky. THEY EARNED IT! Champion Teams do things like that. Brazil did something similar in WC 2002 when Ronaldinho got sent off against England in de quarter final and turn round and dominate not just possession, but the game itself. Ah not sayin Barca dominate de game itself, just comparin de circumstances and end result.
Hard lucks to Chelsea because had they prevailed, THEY would have earned the victory but to me it shows just how much character and grit that Barca has, a trait that's normally seen as only the purview of English, German or even Italian teams.
On to de final! Cyah wait!