Champions League - Chelsea hold Barcelona

Eurosport - Wed, 29 Apr 10:15:00 2009

Chelsea held Barcelona to a goalless draw in their Champions League semi-final first leg in the Camp Nou.

FOOTBALL 2008-09 Champions League - Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes saves a shot from Chelsea's Didier Drogba as Gerard Pique looks on during their semi-final, first leg - 0

The Blues defence held firm in the face of the Catalans' majority of possession while the best chance of the night fell to Didier Drogba.

With time ticking down in the first half, his shot was blocked by Victor Valdes; and the keeper got back up to knock away his chipped rebound (pictured).

Substitutes Bojan Krkic and Alexander Hleb moth missed chances in injury-time for Barcelona, who failed to score in a home match for the first time this season.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola had promised to seduce the world with his team's brand of attacking football and they went at it immediately, Thierry Henry breaking down the left to earn a free-kick on the left side of the box.

Xavi whipped in a cross and Samuel Eto'o headed the ball back across goal where right-back Branislav Ivanovic missed it and Drogba turned his back; fortunately for Chelsea, Rafael Marquez could not steer it home at the far post.

All eyes were on the mercurial Lionel Messi but the spritely Argentine found his route to goal blocked time after time while Henry disappeared from the match for most of the rest of the half.

Andres Iniesta was all over the pitch for Barca as deep-lying trio Jon Obi Mikel, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien worked to deny him and his team-mates space.

Jose Bosingwa, deputising on the left side of defence for the suspended Ashley Cole, did a good job on Messi, with Alex and John Terry throwing themselves into blocks around the area along with the visiting midfield men.

Alex and Ballack were shown yellow cards for bad tackles on Messi and Henry respectively while home midfield destroyer Yaya Toure was also cautioned for dissent.

With Eto'o and Xavi shots from distance the closest Barca had come, Drogba found himself through on goal after Marquez messed up a backpass from the right.

Valdes, an excellent shot-stopper although suspect on crosses, stood tall to keep out the first effort while Drogba did not shoot properly with the second, allowing the keeper to dive out and reach up to tip the ball away.

Two minutes into the second half Florent Malouda, who along with Drogba conducted a running battle with flying Barcelona right-back Daniel Alves all evening, went down in a similar position to where Henry had been fouled early in the match.

Drogba bent a great cross into the danger area only for the unmarked Ballack to head wide.

Henry, Marquez and Alves were all hurt in the following minutes, although only the Mexican - who collapsed while on the ball - had to be replaced, club captain Carles Puyol stepping in at centre-half.

Marquez will miss the rest of the season after damaging the external meniscus in his left knee, while Puyol was later booked for a late tackle on Malouda and will limit Barca's defensive options further for the second leg as he is now suspended.

On 62 minutes Alves found a rare strike on goal, surging down the right and smacking the ball towards the near post where Petr Cech was equal to it.

Eight minutes later Eto'o could have opened the scoring when he expertly turned away from Alex on halfway and nutmegged Terry before bearing down on goal; with Henry in the middle he cut back inside the retreating Alex and shot instead - Cech made the save low down.

Henry appealed for a penalty as he turned in the box when Bosingwa had hold of his shirt, but Wolfgang Stark ruled that it was a fair challenge; he was on his way down anyway, but there was definite contact.

Bojan and Hleb appeared for Eto'o and Henry while before that Barca's 2006 Champions League-winning goalscorer Juliano Belletti came on for Frank Lampard to a rapturous reception from the home fans.

Iniesta was furious after Ballack held him back as he sought to burst into the box from the left, but there was no second yellow card for the German.

The kick was cleared as Guus Hiddink's side held their positions once again, although they were almost undone in a flurry of late chances inside the allotted five minutes of time added on.

First Alves provided a perfect cross for Bojan to arrive and head over before Hleb was played onside by the injured Ballack - on his feet quickly again to cover - but could only fire at the feet of Cech from inside the penalty area on the left.

Alves then whipped in another with his left foot which just evaded Gerard Pique and Bojan - and that proved the final attack of the match.

The second leg will be held at Stamford Bridge next Wednesday.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

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  1. great result for chelsea, tho an away goal would been­ nice and barca are well capable of scoring in stamford­ bridge should be a cagey second leg

    From paddypgreenstreet, on Thu 30 Apr 3:46PM

  2. for your information, The best possible way to defend,­ is to ATTACK. You IDi0T. If thats the case, ask­ yourself, how many trophies have chelsea won then?­ LOL

    Speaking about Chelsea, Guardiola commented on how­ difficult it is to play against a team that just comes­ out to defend. “Chelsea are a very good team, very­ physical. We tried to move the ball around and­ unbalance things though Andrés or Messi. It was very­ hard to do that against this football, Drogba-Cech,­ Cech-Drogba, and a defence of up to six players. When­ one of the teams doesn’t want to play, it’s never easy.­ But we played a good game, despite everything, only­ thing we didnt do, was score”.
    Just to note, Chelse­ didnt ONCE create a chance, Barca gifted Drogba 1­ chance, thats all chelsea did in an attempt to attack.­ How Rubbish.

    From TITUS N, on Thu 30 Apr 11:15AM

  3. Defense win tropphies! Full stop!

    From nemo_delfino, on Thu 30 Apr 3:04AM

  4. PERI UR DESPERATE !

    From handyandyisalways, on Thu 30 Apr 12:03AM

  5. BRAVE WHO ?

    From handyandyisalways, on Wed 29 Apr 11:59PM

  6. Chelsea played for a draw in the first leg bcos it is­ the right strategy:
    - Barca has to play Real Madrid in­ between the 2 legs
    - Barca killed of Bayern and Lyon at­ home 4-0 but are less effective away from home
    -­ Chelsea was wihtout Ashley Cole in this 1st leg.
    -­ Chelsea wanted to stop Barca from playing their game at­ home

    Guardiola: "We are fair. Before the game I­ said to the players: no hard tackles and no fouls. That­ was our philosophy"

    Huh ?

    This Guardiola thinks­ the whole world is an idiot. The only reason why Barca­ try to minimize minor fouls is bcos Barca knows that­ they cannot afford to concede freekicks bcos they know­ Chelsea players have superior aerial ability compared­ to Barca players who are short and not as good in the­ air. Hence, Barca is merely afraid of Chelsea's­ setplays from freekicks !!! When really threatened,­ Barca did not hesitate to use minor fouls as when­ Malouda was rushing alone into the penalty area and­ Alves was trying his best to pull him down.

    Chelsea on­ the other hand was not afraid to commit minor fouls to­ concede free kicks to Barca bcos they know Barca is­ less dangerous from freekicks compared to allowing them­ to play their short passing game to run into the­ penalty box.

    So Mr Guardiola, cut your @#$% and­ don't take the world as a fool and try to lie to­ the world that Barca is clean, bcos your Danny Alves­ put on the opera show of the nite as best actor.

    From yourstrulyhere, on Wed 29 Apr 11:59PM

  7. TO ALL YOU LIFELESS BARCA FANS ,PLEASE COME TO LONDON­ AND SEE YOUR TIME FADE TO WHERE THEY BELONG ,YOU LOSERS­ , ALA MADRID

    From handyandyisalways, on Wed 29 Apr 11:57PM

  8. 570 HOLA @#$%

    From handyandyisalways, on Wed 29 Apr 11:54PM

  9. 576 you are a @#$%. CHELSEA CAMPIONES

    From handyandyisalways, on Wed 29 Apr 11:52PM

  10. I xpected more from chelsea rather they disappointed­ every one with that show of not wanting to score.A more­ interesting game it would have been if they had come­ out of their shell to clinch an away goal.

    From Geelo, on Wed 29 Apr 9:54PM

  11. I xpected more from chelsea rather they disappointed­ every one with that show of not wanting to score.A more­ interesting game it would have been if they had come­ out of their shell to clinch an away goal.

    From Geelo, on Wed 29 Apr 9:53PM

  12. bye bye barca....

    From solomon, on Wed 29 Apr 7:14PM

  13. oficial FIFA anauncment: Chelsea is been band from all­ europian competicion due to cowardnes and giving a­ futball a bad name.no one in europe wants to see­ chelsea play ever again.

    From matevjurman, on Wed 29 Apr 6:42PM

  14. COMMENT 593 WHO IS IT THEN??

    From Varnavas P, on Wed 29 Apr 5:57PM

  15. ned i dn't know what game you watched, but go back­ to your play station eh. why bother write garbage that­ is not worth reading.

    From go, on Wed 29 Apr 5:41PM

  16. Neither club showed much. Barcelona were ineffective­ and souless while Chelsea looked like they were afraid­ to play their game. It is a trully stunning yawner. So­ much for Barca's passing and Chelsea's goal­ scoring prowess...Messi is definitely not the best­ player in the world!

    From Ned, on Wed 29 Apr 5:35PM

  17. 5 attempts at text all classed as invalid, I'm off­ this site.

    From Roughie Toughie Northerner, on Wed 29 Apr 4:26PM

  18. chelsea didn't have to prove anything yesterday.­ it's a question of stategy, they simply believe­ they will perform better at home and that's it.­ bravo to the blues!! knock off these noisy barca team­ and their vocal fans. teach them that football is not­ only a matter of fruitless ball possession but scoring­ goals. see u barca fans next week. don't forget to­ bring along your handkerchieves for there will be too­ much tears in your eyes.

    From paddy, on Wed 29 Apr 4:24PM

  19. well all i can say is barcelona attacked and chelsea­ defended. so i was rooting for barcelona and i am from­ england incase anyone is thinkin why isnt she supportin­ an english team. well i hate chelsea and a specific­ other team which im not mentioning coz il probably get­ a load of hate from some people on here. so good luck­ to barcelona and i hope they score a few at the bridge

    From smiley123, on Wed 29 Apr 4:01PM

  20. and dont u dare rating messi. where was your super­ lampard? or your muscular didie drogba? did they even­ touch the ball?

    From Varnavas P, on Wed 29 Apr 3:14PM
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