The Official Thread of Chelsea FC

[under the bar]

Best of Luck to Chelski tonight.   Hope you make the final and we can have a repeat of last years epic.

It's only right that the 2 best premiership team of the past half decade contest the big stage together.

[nifan]

Looking forward to what should be a good game tonight.

Always love watching messi play - hes bound to be a strong second favourite for world player of the year behind favourite Ryan Giggs .

[Katchit]

Gonna be a draw 2-2, Messi hat-trick.  I'd take that.

[Minder]

Gonna be a draw 2-2, Messi hat-trick.  I'd take that.

Eh?

[The Real Laoislad]

Gonna be a draw 2-2, Messi hat-trick.  I'd take that.

[Doogie Browser]

Hiddink has cranked up the pressure on Boswinga tonight now anyway, saying he is 'the man to handle Messi', great management?  We will see...

[EC Unique]

Gonna be a draw 2-2, Messi hat-trick.  I'd take that.

Eh?

Would an own goal count?

[ExiledGael]

Barcelona: Valdes, Alves, Pique, Marquez, Abidal, Toure, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Henry, Eto'o. Subs: Jorquera, Puyol, Gudjohnsen, Bojan, Keita, Silvinho, Hleb.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Bosingwa, Lampard, Mikel, Ballack, Essien, Malouda, Drogba. Subs: Hilario, Di Santo, Kalou, Belletti, Anelka, Mancienne, Stoch.

Defensive looking Chelsea team. Mikel and Essien both in presumably to protect the back four.

[ExiledGael]

Excellent first half from Chelsea but they'll have to retain possession better in the second half if they're to survive. They had to protect themselves against an early onslaught and they've done that. If they can keep it the same for the early stages of the second half they could steal a great result.
Huge chance from Drogba and he'll get another before the night's out with that defence. Iniesta is the best player on view but it's just so crowded across the 18 yard line with Mikel, Ballack, Essien and Lampard all forming another solid line no more than ten yards in front of that.

[anportmorforjfc]

shite game, chelsea too negative the game badly need a goal. Think Barcelona will still go through. Another dive from the master Drogba (89 mins)

[Tony Baloney]

shite game, chelsea too negative the game badly need a goal. Think Barcelona will still go through. Another dive from the master Drogba (89 mins)

He's a hateful ****. Barca had a good shout for a pen. Good result for Chelsea but crucially no away goal.

[Minder]

I would still marginally favour Barcelona, cant see them not scoring in the second leg and Chelsea didnt get the away goal. I think Barcelona will be more dangerous when the game is more open. No matter how good a team is its hard to break the opposition down when they have a line of ten across the penalty box.

[ExiledGael]

shite game, chelsea too negative the game badly need a goal. Think Barcelona will still go through. Another dive from the master Drogba (89 mins)

He's a hateful ****. Barca had a good shout for a pen. Good result for Chelsea but crucially no away goal.

Actually thought that was a bit of a dive from Henry.
And as brilliant as Iniesta is, his constant demanding for cards for the opposition is a little sickening. Dani Alves was the grestest cheat on the night though.
Marquez looks to have damaged knee ligaments and Puyol is now suspended for next week so their defence could be even weaker than normal.

[Doogie Browser]

shite game, chelsea too negative the game badly need a goal. Think Barcelona will still go through. Another dive from the master Drogba (89 mins)

He's a hateful ****. Barca had a good shout for a pen. Good result for Chelsea but crucially no away goal.

Actually thought that was a bit of a dive from Henry.
And as brilliant as Iniesta is, his constant demanding for cards for the opposition is a little sickening. Dani Alves was the grestest cheat on the night though.
Marquez looks to have damaged knee ligaments and Puyol is now suspended for next week so their defence could be even weaker than normal.

An annoying runt of a man, he never stopped crying all night and all he had was Malouda to contend with.

[Norf Tyrone]

shite game, chelsea too negative the game badly need a goal. Think Barcelona will still go through. Another dive from the master Drogba (89 mins)

It's the last minute of a belligerent display. Tell me a player who would not lie down to burn off a bit of time? 

The game very much 50/50 still. Essentially winner goes through, and if it's a draw then Barce likely to emerge. Chelsea defended well as a team, but it's hard to identify an individual who played well. Bosingwa kept Messi quiet, but Messi had a poor game as well. Cech obviously had a good game, Ivanovic in patches, and Malouda carried the ball well at times.

I think the key was Chelsea's midfiled marking the space that Barce liked to thread the ball through.

It was unusual to see Lampard getting subbed, and it was the right call in truth. Chelsea's back line was deep that meant that the distance Lampard had to cover to support Drogba was too far, meaning that his usual box to box game wasn't possible.

As for Barce, I can't claim to be au fait with each of their players but Iniesta looks a real handful, and caught the eye.

The 2nd leg will be interesting, and I hoped we would be going into it with a good chance, and I believe we are. Barce seemed very frustrated tonight, and the images of Pique, and Alves pushing each other suggests that perhaps they are under pressure to deliver. No Marquez, and Puyol suspended means that a suspect defence is under more stress.

All to play for and my hope was that Chelsea would head to SB with a good shout....
.... that they have.