Chelsea: Chelsea - Barca showdown *plus after talk*

What a chance... Corner to Chelsea flicked on by Duff, Terry to Lampard who missed from close range as he put it over the bar..

Chelsea have the better of the play at the moment and the 4-4-2 Mourinho chose to play seems to be working well..

Dangerous position now as Barca have a freekick outside the box. It might be a bit too far out to trouble Petr in goal.

They tried a cute one and it didn't come off.. First 15 mins have flown by and its a good game so far..

GOAL!!!!!

Great run by Joe Cole on the right wing, he cut inside and launched off a shot, it took a deflection and the goalkeeper just tipped it but Lampard was there to poke the ball in the net!!

2-0 Chelsea....

OMG.....

GOAL!!!!

A nice move in the middle of the field great pass to Duff who run on to the ball and put it between the goalkeepers legs.. Sweet goal and Chelsea are well on top...

3-0 Chelsea.... They lead 4-2 on aggregate now with only 20 mins gone!!

Great shot on 22 mins by Eto and Petr just managed to tip it over the bar. Ronaldinhio with a great header that just went wide of the post.. You wouldn't expect Chelsea to concede from a corner as they have height advantage and are strong at the back but Ronaldinhio still managed to get in with a header...

GOAL!!

Penalty to Barca, handball in the box... It looked a bit dubious to me as he was turning and couldn't see the ball..

Ronaldinhio with the penatly and Petr went the right way and got fingertips on the ball but couldn't stop it going in the corner...

3-1 Chelsea....

Joe Cole is getting a lot of joy down the right wing and he is having a great game so far..

The game has only slightly settled down as Chelsea are on the attack again with Gallas down the left which resulted in nothing.

One thing i have noticed is that the surface look pretty slippery as a few players have lost their footing.

33 mins gone....

Barca are seeing plenty of the ball and playing it around nicely but the Chelsea defence is doing a good job of stopping them so far..

GOAL!!

Barca are still playing the ball around well but not resulting in much untill they got a free kick outside the box, about the same distance as the last one. Deco hit a fantastic shot and Petr just managed to tip it over the bar. The corner resulted in nothing but Barca win the ball back and Ronaldinhio picks it up just outside the box and hits the ball and its ends up in the back of the net, a fantastic goal by him...

Chelsea 3-2

Great pass by Ronaldinhio to Eto who hits a cracking shot thats just over the bar. Barca have had alot of the play, but Cole picks the ball up inside the box and lets a shot off and hits the post, the follow up is straight to the keeper. That was a great chance to score and the keeper was well beat....

Barca are playing the ball around again and Chelsea are finding it hard to get hold of the ball but when they have done they look dangerous.

I think there could be a few more goals yet as the ref blows up for half time.. One of the best games i have seen in ages and i'm looking forward to the second half...

2nd half is underway and there is 10 mins gone...

Pretty even so far and the pace seems to have slowed down to the first half. Chelsea have been defending well and they need to.

Lampard wins the ball in the Chelsea half and he goes on a run and strikes the ball towards goal, it takes a deflection which takes it just past the post. Corner to Chelsea, Lampard header straight to the keeper. Another good chance to score..


Barca hit back with a strike from outside the box which Petr just gets a hand to and pushes it just round the post. Corner results in nothing but Barca have the ball back and have Chelsea pegged back....

Cole wins the ball and goes on a run and wins a freekick in the Barca half. Freekick results in nothing..

60 mins gone and Barca have the ball, Eto into the box and goes down... Corner ball and Petr pulls off a fantastic save to stop a goal..

Joe Cole gets the ball and lets one fly, great save by the Barca goalkeeper, Chelsea caught offside... Another good chance and its all action like the first half...

Its going from one end to the other and they both are looking like they could score again.

Great game for ITV to put on as Man United are 1-0 down with a goal from Crespo...


64 mins, dangerous freekick by Barca and Petr got a hand to it... Chelsea have the ball and are putting some passes together but keep giving it way cheaply. Chelsea looking strong in midfield but give it up cheaply again. Its going to be hard to call it and there isn't a bad player on the pitch...

Kavi picks up a Yellow for diving just outside the Chelsea box..


Comming up to 68 mins now and Chelsea win a freekick about 40 yrds out, a bit too far out but Lampard might fancy a shot lol!

OMG Lampard hits a thunderbolt and its just wide of the post and it looks like the keeper may have had it covered..





[Edited on 8/3/05 by TRD]

70 mins and Chelsea win another freekick, the balls falls to Gudjohnson who hits one but is blocked, another greatr chance for Chelsea to score...

Barca have the ball again and are passing it well. They win a throw in the Chelsea half. Barca into the box but the defence stands firm and gets the ball away. Chelsea with the ball back in the Barca half, Joe Cole threads one though into the area but no one there..

Great run by a Barca player into the box and he lets one fly, Petr gets a hand to it and it hits the post. Fantasic save and Barca failed on the follow up as it goes over the bar...

Barca still on the attack in the 75th minute, Terry with a great tackle and its away for a corner which is easily cleared. Barca back with the ball and Chelsea are finding it hard to keep hold of it.

Chelsea string some good passing and a great ball by Cole to Gallas which is kicked out for a corner.. Corner taken by Duff and John Terry meets the ball with a fantastic header. GOAL!!!!!!!!

Chelsea 4 Barca 2 ... Chelsea lead 5-4 on aggregate....

Chelsea looked to have stepped up a gear and are getting in the challenges to win the ball back. Barca look to be a bit shocked by the goal...

Gudjohnson is taken off and Tiago is on...

79mins gone and Chelsea have the ball in the Barca half only to lose it again. They need to keep hold of the ball now...

80mins and Ronaldinhio wins a freekick wide out on the left in a dangerous position. Deco takes and puts a poor ball in.. Chelsea have the ball and a great ball to Cole who puts in a good cross but its a bit too high.. Barca are playing the ball around in the middle of the park but not really going anywhere.. They keep probing but the Chelsea defence is standing firm yet again... Barca have had the ball for a couple of mins now and Chelsea can't get a foot on the ball. Kezman gives away a freekick in the Chelsea half.

83mins Freekick taken which Petr deals with easily, ball out to Lampard to Cole who wins a freekick near the halfway line. Johnson gets a Yellow for delaying the freekick and it results in nothing... Should be a great last 5 mins or so....

Chelsea and Barca both make substitutions as Duff goes off and Huth comes on... Looks like they are getting a bit defensive and i hope they dont sit back too deep...

86mins and Barca are piling the players forward in the search for a goal. Ball comes in and Petr gets a hand to it which results in a corner and Terry wins a freekick in the box...

Chelsea need to keep hold of the ball now and not do anything stupid.

Barca on the attack again but Chelsea are defending well. But the pressure is relentless and Chelsea can't get hold of the ball. 2 mins of normal time left and i think there will be a few mins of time added on...

Ball driven across the box and goes oput for a goalkick to Chelsea. They fail to keep hold of the ball and give away yet another freekick in the Barca half. Barca pilling everyone forward but Chelsea defending well yet again and clear the ball but it just keeps comming back at them.

3mins of time added on...

Chelsea have the ball and a great run down the wing, Lampard has the ball in the corner to waste time... 2 mins left and Barca have the ball again and win a freekick just outside the box in a dangerous position... Deco has lined the ball up and lets one fly but its sails past the post...

1min left and its looking like Chelsea are going to hold on...

Its all over!!!

What a fantastic game and a great win by Chelsea, unbelievable game... :party-smiley-018:

good reporting there TRD

watched the game and wow! when chelsea went up with a 3 nil lead in the 20 minutes barcelona looked like they didnt know what hit them. when duff scored. it just looked soooo easy for them.

hehe...what mourhino must be thinking about the penalty that barca got, especailly after all the took about refs he has been doing. cech nearly got it saved. if he had missed that penalty, barca would have falling to pieces, i think it gave them the hope. after that barca played really good football, and it was starting to turn end to end stuff

what a goal ronaldinho scored though, at first, i thought hes going to be closed down here, theres no way he can do anything with the space he had and the players coming at him. and bang. out of nowhere it goes in, i dont think there is many players who could score that.

in the 2nd half barca defintly enjoyed the best of the ball. i thought they where trying to walk it into the box on too many occasions. and both keepers where making good saves.

just when it was looking like barca would go through, terry pops up and gets a goal. then mourhino could bring on tiago who could protect the defense along with makelele.

and for the next 10/15 minutes they managed to hold out, i think its just aswell as they had no striking options on the bench.

seemed to be stuff going on after the match, ronaldinho in particular.

now though, thats barca out the way, i dont think there is many teams who could beat chelsea over the two games, and they will have drogba back, and most likely robben

Yeah can't argue with with you say Rynaldo, but what a great game. Thats what football is all about!!

Yeah i noticed that there was something going on near the touchline after the game, i'll guess we'll hear about it later...

yer, i seen rijkaard was reacting to something, and then ronalidinho was being led away. i cant see it being anything that happened during the game, other than the penalty. and that was in barcas favour, there was no major incidents.

i think maybe hes was unhappy with mourinho running on and celebrating the way he did. as there has been alot of talk between both clubs.

Well if it was because Mourinho was celebrating then thats just sour grapes, what does he expect? That was one of the best games all season and most prob the best win by Chelsea all season. Of course you would expect himk to celebrate, i would be doing cartwheels across the pitch lol!