Chelsea versus FC Barcelona – Champions League 2017-18 - 1st leg – 20-2-2018 Opinion on the Match



A game of 2 crucial defensive errors



The buildup and the hype to this game at Stamford Bridge was enormous as the press worked overtime on the historical facts that favoured Chelsea when it came to facing FC Barcelona in the Champions League. The Blues have traditionally been a tough opponent for Barca.  Obviously the fact that Messi had never scored against Chelsea in the past 8 meetings between the two clubs and how well Chelsea could defend against him based on past experience was given more coverage than the game.

Conte came in with a ultra-defensive strategy which saw Barcelona possess the ball for most of the match.  But the moment they went forward they were crowded out by heavyweights like Rudiger, Christensen, Azpilicueta, Moses, Kante and Marco Alonso. Almost all 6 of them were into defending against the likes of Messi, Suarez and Iniesta. Willian and Hazard were the two main attacking options for Chelsea with Kante and Fabregas trying to link up with them. It was a ploy that worked for Chelsea fantastically.

Luis Suarez cut a sorry and lonely figure up front for Barca as he was not getting any balls with so many blue bodies around. Hence the Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois was never tested much. The Barcelona midfield was teaming with players - Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta, Paulinho, Messi and Alba. No one was allowed to move forward  by the Chelsea defenders.

In the meantime, with whatever possession they had, Hazard and Willian managed more shots on the Barca goal – all of them long rangers. Willian was unlucky to rattle the crossbar twice. But there was no chance of getting closer to the Barcelona D as Pique, Umtiti, Sergi Roberto  and Alba with the help of Busquets and Rakitic were working their hearts out in defense. Despite the heavily crowded midfield and lots of aimless passing, Messi managed a perfect cross which landed on Paulinho’s head but his effort on goal was too tame. Barca also managed to get a couple of corners and free kicks without much success.

The 2nd half started in the same fashion with Barcelona holding on to the ball most of the time. Willian was surprisingly left free by all the Barca defenders despite him being the most dangerous of the Chelsea forwards in the first half. That was a huge slip-up. The relentless Willian  was given a great cross by Hazard, who deservedly found the bottom corner of the goal from another wonderfully executed long shot. Third time lucky!  Chelsea took the much required lead with about 20 minutes of play left.

Going down, Barcelona seemed to wake up and attacked with a bit more intent. Then came the 75th minute and Chelsea’s impenetrable defensive backline blinked for a moment. Christensen played an ill-timed side-pass in his own D to Azpilicueta who was a tad slow to get to it, unaware of the little guy who was running in. The 33 years old Iniesta out-sprinted his younger opponent, picked up the ball deftly and raced into the Chelsea D. Then he did something that was totally unexpected. Iniesta gave an immaculate back pass to the one guy who read his mind like a book – Messi, who was at the expected spot at the expected time. Messi with a powerful shot slotted the goal past the imposing Courtois. Thus ended, the so called, scoring jinx of Messi at the Stamford Bridge and the game. One should never go by the sweet-looking Iniesta and the baby-faced Messi. They may look unassuming and ineffective, but they are a special duo who can destroy the opposition any minute and Chelsea learned it the hard way in the 1st leg. (By the way, when he scored that goal Messi was sprinting in practically free. How did he manage to break free from all those towering defenders, in blue, who surrounded him like bees throughout the game is something I need to go back and re-watch, to understand.) There was not much left after the Messi goal as Barcelona saw off the rest of the game without much trouble.

Chelsea might feel that they were unlucky to finish the match on 1-1. But they were playing the unluckiest team this season. Despite all his goals, Messi had hit the crossbar 16 times. Their carefully groomed next big hope for the future – Neymar - ditched them for a bigger paycheck.  Their first big buy - Dembele couldn’t get integrated into the team because of injuries. Their next big buy – Coutinho is cup tied in the Champions league. The La Liga games this season are much more strenuous and back breaking than any other league in Europe and the likes of Iniesta, Messi, Luis Suarez and Busquets are aging. So, as far as the - ifs and buts are concerned – there should not be too many complaints. Also this is the Champions League where nothing comes easy. This FC Barcelona may not be the most emphatic or classy of teams, but it’s an efficient unit that had rarely thrown in the towel in tough situations.

Conte’s defensive tactics worked very well for Chelsea until the 75th minute. Valverde’s selection and tactics (wonder if there was any?) were baffling and at times perilous. FC Barcelona was ineffective by a long distance. Despite having more than 70% of the ball, Barcelona was frustrated in attack by the choking defense of Chelsea. There was a definite lack of energy and aggression. Very few Barca players except Suarez were trying to attack and a number of good crosses went begging. In the midfield it looked like a traffic jam of Barca players which had little impact on the game. The likes of Iniesta, Messi, Luis Suarez and Busquets need to be rested as the season progresses, so that they are at their best in crucial games.

With the 1-1 draw Barcelona comes away with a slight advantage in the 2nd leg. But it will be an exciting 50-50 game which could go either way. Let’s hope Barcelona puts up a better show in the 2nd leg at the Camp Nou and it turns out to be positive result for the Blaugrana.

Image Credits - Google Images

Comments

Translate