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by PAM
No luck... and a lot of luck
And so, the current Cup holders took their last bow from this season's UEFA Champions League race - defeated in their very own "fortress". Without luck, the mighty FC Barcelona was reduced to almost an ordinary team as they were ousted by the visiting London team, Chelsea FC, in the second leg of their semi-final tie at the formidable Catalan "fortress", Camp Nou. And, I concede, it was a showing that was hard to be particularly proud of... with the Blues being reduced to 10 men before half-time as their captain, John Terry, shown a straight red card after knocking down Alexis Sánchez in the area, the visitors, with tons of luck on their side, still managed to keep their composure, stayed focused on their objective to move on to the final even when they were down, 2-0, and survived the attack from the hosts... winning with a convincing 2-2 scoreline, 3-2 on aggregate.
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Barça was wanting a hero...
Nope, Lionel Messi didn't show up tonight... well, at least, not the Messi "we know" - no "red cape", no "magic wand"... and wouldn't
Leo? Is that you? But... where's the
red cape? and the magic wand?
Impostor! Where's our hero?you know it, he failed to connect a penalty shot and was shown a yellow card, too! Aww... what happened? Yep, it was an impostor who was wearing the #10 Barça jersey out there! For whatever it's worth, the impostor was almost perfect in copying Leo's dribbling brilliance... and he had Leo's awesome eye for little cracks in the opponents' defense and to issue great assists, too.
But, yeah, it was Sergio Busquets who showed the presence of mind and brought home the opening goal to put Barça ahead in the second leg of the tie. It was supplemented by a fantastic finishing of Messi's pass by Don Andrés Iniesta into a fine goal to bring the scoreline to 2-0, in favor of the Catalans. There was much jubilation among the crowd, as it appeared that the Catalans were going to be on a goal rampage at Camp Nou - a redemption from the last two defeats, one of which was in an El Clásico, at Camp Nou no less? But just before half-time, Ramires, in a fine run of his own was found by the ball-stealing Frank Lampard, got away from the Catalan defense and beat, uhm, who else but Victor Valdes (?!!), to kick the crucial away goal that put Chelsea in a serious contention of a spot in the final, 2-1. Chelsea led on away goal at half-time courtesy of the same duo who played Didier Drogba to slot the winning goal in Stamford Bridge in the first leg of the tie, Ramires and Lampard.
Without taking credit away from Chelsea, especially their superb goalkeeper, Petr Cech, who kept Barcelona frustrated in front of the goal,
Sergio Busquets... moment of glory.the second half exposed an unfamiliar Barça - nothing cohesive about their play, they kept losing the ball, couldn't manage to break through their 10-man opponents... no "mental communication" between the midfield and the front line that led to disconnected passing that was easily disrupted by a 10-man opposing crew. Whatever the gameplan was, it wasn't working. I'm sad to say that, but it appeared that way. Granted that the Chelsea defense was a massive 8-man firewall... but, wasn't Pep Guardiola expecting that though? The visitors were coming to the Catalan "fortress"... if they fielded an über defensive line-up in Stamford Bridge, wouldn't you expect them to put on an even tougher defensive away gameplan? And wouldn't you expect them to draw a flawless counter attack to maximize their few chances, given the Barça possession rate, therefore, shouldn't you mind your back with a "steel lock" to match a fierce attacking line-up, for a sure-win strategy? I know, easier said than done! To be fair, I think Pep took care of the attack part very well to try and penetrate the Chelsea firewall... the attempts on goal stat says it all: 17 for Barça, 7 for Chelsea. On the other hand, the defense part was still a gaping disconnect in the Barça game. And Victor Valdes continues to be such a let-down these days... and these are BIG
6-8-10... a glimpse of the usual Barça brilliance.matches where so much is at stake! It's odd. What's going on with him? He used to be in serious contention of the first XI for Spain, notwithstanding the admittedly incredible Iker Casillas.
So, why are these weaknesses seem to be appearing "all of a sudden"? It's because every single team in the Champions League have been endeavoring to decode the Barça strategy... and trying to come up with a plan to counter it! It's that obvious, isn't it? Here's a team that has been dominating the game... 13 titles out of possible 15 in the last three years, surely, one of the biggest challenges to all sides would be to figure out this Guardiola team's weakness and attack them in that very spot - where it hurts, to disrupt their play, to scatter their men, to surprise them with a coup, to gain grounds against them - TO BEAT
RDM, Chelsea's 'hero'.THEM! And you know what, without taking away credit from Chelsea's determined "old guard", the Blues found themselves a hero... Roberto Di Matteo, of all people, was the (unlikely) first to figure Barça out and rallied his men to halt the Catalans' seemingly unstoppable stride to secure a place of glory in UEFA history books with a back-to-back win. No, it wasn't José Mourinho who did it first, his ways are much too violent and controversial to be considered convincing means to gain grounds from Barça... something just clicked in his head, Mourinho's, last Wednesday after watching his former charges play the Catalans under Di Matteo's game strategy. Of course, Real Madrid have been showing a much impressive campaign via cohesive linkage on the pitch this season, too, and many of the Blancos, as many of the Blues, were stepping out to be their teams' heroes - to defeat FC Barcelona. Guardiola's Barça, on the other hand, seemed fatigued and need to be resuscitated after all the unequaled very high level of football they have been playing for four seasons now. Maybe these three BIG (and I mean, MASSIVE) losses in a row will do just that, if not to shellshock them? We shall see....
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Breakthroughs, breakdowns...
Talking about breakthroughs, it was the 'beautiful' Fernando Torres, once again, "of all people", who buried and twisted
Age before beauty? Not with FT. the lethal dagger on Barça's side... and ousted them in the Champions League final this season! El niño couldn't have chosen a better stage to showcase his returning (ah, shucks, hopefully!) form of a formidable striker. Eat your heart out, Crissy! :) Torres came on for Drogba with 10 minutes to play... and he drove the killer goal through in a lucky break that he finished with much composure and beauty against the ugly goalkeeping of Valdes! A glaring contrast... something that could only make Barça and the Culés accept defeat graciously and bow out from the competition with the pride of champions, too.
And so, Guardiola went to the Chelsea side and congratulated the winners in his usual caballero way, and then hurried to the dugout. It was the great men of this crashed Catalan team who had to stay on the pitch to show the grief of losing and to show the most gracious way to hand the victors - their conquerors - that
'Til we meet again?glorious moment of sweet sportsmanship. Ah, life has a funny way of playing tricks on us... a lesson to learn? I cannot say that I am not happy for Chelsea... they went through tumultous time this season, and here they are savoring the sweetness of victory, and against the side that twisted the same dagger in a lethal stab on their side in 2009, also in their own turf. But, the sweetest part is, Chelsea claimed victory against the mighty Catalan side with only 10 men. Convincing win? Definitely! And so, Barça did well by being gracious in defeat, allowing some glorious moments for the "beautiful game" to shine through with the valiant men from London in the center stage! This grace in defeat is a part of Guardiola and his men's being true and faithful knights of the "beautiful game".
Congratulations to Chelsea for a much-deserved win! Barça can break down later - they must... 'cause how does one rejoice in victory if one didn't know the sting of bitter defeat? So, yeah, they are allowed to breakdown... and then bounce back! 'Cause that is the Barça way... not even this defeat - humongous as it is - can change it! Visca, el Barça!
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Save it 'til the morning after...
Nah, I'm not going to speculate on the present
Uhm, yeah... in Pep we trust, especially now!state of affairs in Camp Nou today with all the very cheap Gerard Piqué vs. Pep Guardiola brouhaha (with an unpalatable Shakira ingredient thrown in). I'm not interested to go deep into "what could've beens" for Barça today either, not even when Dani Alves, for all his tendecies to stray away from his defense post, was excluded in the first XI, and Cesc Fàbregas being dropped out of the line-up on crucial moments, for instance... this is not the time for deep thinking and analyses. It's too hard... I'm too sad for Barça, I'm too happy for Chelsea, especially for Torres... and, uhm, ahem, I have work to do actually! Hehe.... so, y'see, this is why I am compelled to understand Alves! ;)
Ciao!
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Photo credits: All photos were grabbed from the Zimbio website - thanks!
