Two words: Advantage Chelsea. And before you Blues fans, get carried away and start dreaming of the title, I refer only to the Champions League semi final battle with Liverpool, the second leg of which we all await with bated breath. Certainly not the Premiership, where Man U’s commanding goal difference leaves them in control of their fate. Chelsea, on the other hand have to fast and pray for a Man U slip-up in the last two rounds. But …it’s Champions League time so let’s stay focused.
Chelsea’s late equalizer at Anfield clearly puts them in the driving seat for the return leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. An away goal is always valuable in these tight ties and it means Chelsea can go through to the final without having to score a goal at home. I guess, giving Liverpool’s proven ability to squeeze out 0-0 draws in Europe, Chelsea and their fans will derive some level of comfort from that situation. Liverpool would have loved to take that one-goal lead to London, yet I don’t think the 1-1 scoreline makes as big a difference as all that. I doubt that Rafa Benitez would have been playing for a goalless draw at the Bridge regardless and to assume that Chelsea wouldn’t score at least once at home would have been sheer folly.
In essence, Liverpool – had they kept their one-goal lead – would have traveled knowing they’d probably have to score at the Bridge to go through. This is the exact situation they find themselves in now. On the other hand, though a goalless finish suits Chelsea, I doubt they’ll play for that in front of their fans and that should make it quite a game – perhaps the most open game between these two in years.
Liverpool may well rue the missed opportunities at Anfield – not to mention Riise’s injury time gift – but if they play as well as they did at home, and Torres and Gerrard gel as they can, I wouldn’t be writing them off yet. Rafa may decide to start Crouch alongside Torres in his search for goals, but I think he’ll go for Ryan Babel’s pace and trickery to start with.
Chelsea will have to play much better than they did last week – they usually do at home - and they should be on a high after seeing off Man U on Saturday. Their biggest boost though would be the return of Ghanaian Michael Essien after suspension. Ballack and Lampard were well dominated by Mascherano and Alonso at Anfield, but they’ll find in Essien a tougher proposition. The sheer power and industry of the “Bionic Man” could well give Chelsea the edge in this one.
Yet, I am going to stop short of making a prediction. It looks all set up for Chelsea to reach the Champions League final for the first time, but like Liverpool fans everywhere, I’ll be hoping for the contrary.
Before the Reds v Blues on Wednesday though, there’s the little matter of Man U hosting Barcelona at the “Theatre of Dreams” later today. I thought Man U would see off the Catalans quite easily before the first leg, but I suppose I am not the only one who’s having a re-think now.
Before you Man U fans go loco on me, I’m not saying that Ferguson’s team won’t go through to Moscow. Not yet, anyway. But I certainly thought they’d put up more of a fight at the Nou Camp, where Barca completely dominated play and Man U resorted to parking the bus in front of their goal in a desperate bid not to concede. Okay, maybe that’s what’s required to succeed in the Champions’ League, and a 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp is a good result by all means. It was the manner of the performance that got me though. and Barcelona showed enough to suggest that they could pull an upset at Old Trafford.
Still, Man U at home should be a different deal. They’ll definitely come out to play – as they eventually did at Stamford Bridge on Saturday – and we all know how dangerous they can be at their attacking best. I am not even going to discuss the possibility of Rooney’s absence; doesn’t matter, they’ve got Tevez, Nani,….
Barcelona are hardly the strongest team in defence, even if captain Puyol returns after suspension, and they are having trouble finding the net as well, yet if they dominate the ball as they can – Xavi, Iniesta and Messi put up a clinic last week – Man U fans will be in for a long night.
It should be an intriguing contrast in styles – Barca’s measured, controlled passing approach against the swift, incisive attacking style of Man U. In addition, we get another look at two of the contenders for the title of ‘best player in the world’.
Leo Messi certainly took the first round last week, running the United defence ragged for an hour before making his exit. And this from a youngster who’d been out injured for several weeks prior. Ronaldo’s had a great season, but he was clearly not at the races in Barcelona, missing that early penalty to boot. He’ll have another chance to show-up the Argentine wonder-kid tonight.
In all, it should be a great game to see. Barcelona may well dominate the play again, but I think Man U, at Old Trafford, have enough attacking guile and finishing power to win this one. Of course, I won’t be shedding any tears if they don’t.
See ya!
1 comment:
It was simply awesome as Chelsea caged Liverpool.
Nonetheless, the final game on May 21 is just a mere formality in my opinion. The real final game was played on Tuesday between Man U and Barca game.
It was unfortunate that Frank did not have a "solution" to his team's goal famine. Henry could have been Frank's joker if he was given more playing time. Etoo seems to have lost his "dare-devil" finishing.
Walahi Talahi:) I was day-dreaming of the Great Dutch team of Euro 1988 when I saw Barca played its best game of the year 7 days ago. With the exception of it striking line that was horrible, the way Barcelona played last week really brought back the memories of that great Dutch team. It was simply unfortunate that Frank could not get "the striking power of Van Basten, Ruud Guilt and Frank himself" into his squad for both legs of the game.
Toure that appeared to be like Koeman in the first leg vanished into the thin air in the second leg when he was needed more to "cause havoc" for Man U at home.
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