Stayed up to watch Champions League last night..
Anticipated the match of Chelsea against Barcelona.I've never fancied the other semi final between ManU and Arsenal..Watching Guus Hiddink's ever changing tactics was a better choice.Hmm.Chelsea were very disciplined throughout the 1st leg and 2nd leg of the game.Pep Guardiola insisted his team stayed on with their attacking instincts regardless of how bad refereeing was concerned , how bad the condition of he pitch was , and how shameful was Hiddink's tactics to neutralize Barcelona's style of flowing attacking football.Well,Barcelona started with Iniesta on the right , Eto on the left and Messi in the middle.I can tell you that it wasn't a comfortable position for those three.Maybe Guardiola is trying to mix things up a little bit but the fact is he's making it worse for his team.With those three up front in a scenario like this,they just seem to go nowhere with their football.Not even a shot on target in the 1st half of the game.In fact,they only got a shot on target throughout the whole game.Meanwhile,Chelsea stayed disciplined.Hiddink still decided to leave Drogba alone up front and even though he was up front alone , he'd done a pretty good job.He was winning most of the aerial battles and manoeuvring his way through the defence of Toure and Rossi.Chelsea kept their football simple launching long balls towards Drogba and hoping someone would catch on with the following ball.It paid off in the opening 10 minutes when Cech launched a long ball towards Drogba.Drogba flicked the ball onto the left side of the pitch and there was Malouda following up.They started to gain a little bit of possession after that and chances started to materialize.Malouda pull the ball back to Cole and Cole passed it on to Lampard.Lampard decided to whip it into the penalty area but it was deflected by a Barcelona player.The ball fell to Essien and he blasted the ball with his left foot into the top right hand corner of Victor Valdes's goal.The ball struck the crossbar before going in.Chelsea was ecstatic .They knew they needed a good start.They knew they couldn't just sit back like what they did at Nou Camp.They had to score and they did.A big boost for Chelsea but it surely did not dampened Barcelona's hopes of getting back into the game.Hiddink knew the consequences of being laid back against Barcelona too.Barcelona is a goal scoring machine.The record speaks for itself this season.In fact,Barcelona was owning most of the posession of the ball.Over 60% through out the game.In addition,everytime Chelsea got the ball , Barcelona was very quick to close them down and get back possession.But at the end of the first half , Chelsea were the better team.They took most of their chances well.Few penalty appeals for Chelsea too.Barcelona didn't have any clear cut chances at all.One things I discovered was Iniesta was trying his very best to break through the defence of Chelsea.He wasn't given the space to roam in the middle , that's where he is at his best. I'm sure at Hiddink told his team to stay focused at halftime.They can never afford to lose focus to a team like Barcelona.They'll snap you up anytime.In the 2nd half of the game , Guardiola sticked with his attacking instincts knowing it'll pay off.Bear in mind that Barcelona just needed a goal to move on to the finals in Rome.Guardiola made some changes in the 2nd half.Giving Iniesta and Messi more freedom to roam in the middle area.I can see that Iniesta was brilliant in creating most of the chances at the left flank facing Bosingwa. Messi was almost perfect in taking on Cole on the right side.His footwork was quick.He was just brilliant in class.They always say form is temporary but class sure is permanent. Something had to happen and their efforts should be rewarded.I could see that Iniesta was the best player of the game at that time or for the whole match I should say.Barcelona went down to 10 men with the sending off of Abidal in the 66th minute.Barca kept on putting pressure up front.Chelsea didn't managed to hold on to their lead when Iniesta punished them with a goal in the 90th minute that ended Chelsea's hopes of a 2nd consecutive Champions' League final.So it'll be Barcelona Vs Manchester United at Rome this end of May.
It should be exciting.It will. =)
Anticipated the match of Chelsea against Barcelona.I've never fancied the other semi final between ManU and Arsenal..Watching Guus Hiddink's ever changing tactics was a better choice.Hmm.Chelsea were very disciplined throughout the 1st leg and 2nd leg of the game.Pep Guardiola insisted his team stayed on with their attacking instincts regardless of how bad refereeing was concerned , how bad the condition of he pitch was , and how shameful was Hiddink's tactics to neutralize Barcelona's style of flowing attacking football.Well,Barcelona started with Iniesta on the right , Eto on the left and Messi in the middle.I can tell you that it wasn't a comfortable position for those three.Maybe Guardiola is trying to mix things up a little bit but the fact is he's making it worse for his team.With those three up front in a scenario like this,they just seem to go nowhere with their football.Not even a shot on target in the 1st half of the game.In fact,they only got a shot on target throughout the whole game.Meanwhile,Chelsea stayed disciplined.Hiddink still decided to leave Drogba alone up front and even though he was up front alone , he'd done a pretty good job.He was winning most of the aerial battles and manoeuvring his way through the defence of Toure and Rossi.Chelsea kept their football simple launching long balls towards Drogba and hoping someone would catch on with the following ball.It paid off in the opening 10 minutes when Cech launched a long ball towards Drogba.Drogba flicked the ball onto the left side of the pitch and there was Malouda following up.They started to gain a little bit of possession after that and chances started to materialize.Malouda pull the ball back to Cole and Cole passed it on to Lampard.Lampard decided to whip it into the penalty area but it was deflected by a Barcelona player.The ball fell to Essien and he blasted the ball with his left foot into the top right hand corner of Victor Valdes's goal.The ball struck the crossbar before going in.Chelsea was ecstatic .They knew they needed a good start.They knew they couldn't just sit back like what they did at Nou Camp.They had to score and they did.A big boost for Chelsea but it surely did not dampened Barcelona's hopes of getting back into the game.Hiddink knew the consequences of being laid back against Barcelona too.Barcelona is a goal scoring machine.The record speaks for itself this season.In fact,Barcelona was owning most of the posession of the ball.Over 60% through out the game.In addition,everytime Chelsea got the ball , Barcelona was very quick to close them down and get back possession.But at the end of the first half , Chelsea were the better team.They took most of their chances well.Few penalty appeals for Chelsea too.Barcelona didn't have any clear cut chances at all.One things I discovered was Iniesta was trying his very best to break through the defence of Chelsea.He wasn't given the space to roam in the middle , that's where he is at his best. I'm sure at Hiddink told his team to stay focused at halftime.They can never afford to lose focus to a team like Barcelona.They'll snap you up anytime.In the 2nd half of the game , Guardiola sticked with his attacking instincts knowing it'll pay off.Bear in mind that Barcelona just needed a goal to move on to the finals in Rome.Guardiola made some changes in the 2nd half.Giving Iniesta and Messi more freedom to roam in the middle area.I can see that Iniesta was brilliant in creating most of the chances at the left flank facing Bosingwa. Messi was almost perfect in taking on Cole on the right side.His footwork was quick.He was just brilliant in class.They always say form is temporary but class sure is permanent. Something had to happen and their efforts should be rewarded.I could see that Iniesta was the best player of the game at that time or for the whole match I should say.Barcelona went down to 10 men with the sending off of Abidal in the 66th minute.Barca kept on putting pressure up front.Chelsea didn't managed to hold on to their lead when Iniesta punished them with a goal in the 90th minute that ended Chelsea's hopes of a 2nd consecutive Champions' League final.So it'll be Barcelona Vs Manchester United at Rome this end of May.
It should be exciting.It will. =)
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