Never in my whole entire life as a Chelsea supporter, have I been able to witness such an amazing 2 weeks of European football. Not only have we been able to reach the Champions League final, but we were able to do it, by overthrowing the darlings of European Football, Barcelona! At the very beginning, I thought we could never do it, but here I am, sitting here, writing a blog on this site, telling you how enthusiastic I am with my Chelsea heroes!
—————————————–
Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona – UEFA Champions League – 18/4/12
Didier Drogba’s goal on the stroke of half time was the only goal scored here, amid a constant early threat from Barcelona at Stamford Bridge! The Catalans had hit the woodwork twice during the game.. once when Alexis Sanchez lobbed the ball over Petr Cech only for it to bounce off the crossbar, and secondly, in the last few seconds of the game when Pedro’s effort went through everyone and bounced off the post! We were so lucky, but in the end, we were able to get a very precious victory to take to the Nou Camp!
“One Shot, One Goal”, that’s all it took! Barcelona could have had all the possession, all the passing, and all the shots.. but what mattered the most, is that the number of goals were more for us than them on the night, and we went away thinking, that only half the job was done, but that part of the job was a hard one in itself, as it meant that Barcelona had failed to score against us away from home, which meant the away goals rule was firmly on our side going into the second leg the following week!
—————————————–
Barcelona 2-2 Chelsea (Agg: 2-3) – UEFA Champions League – 24/4/12
This is a night, that I will never, EVER forget!
The night we defied all the odds, the night where 10 men wearing Chelsea badges on their shirts became warriors and heroes, the night that we over-threw the darlings of European football, rubbed it in their fans’ faces, and starting singing songs about going to Munich! This was the night when I had been reminded what it was like to be a hardcore Chelsea fan! It felt like we had won ugly because of our constant sitting back and defending, but it was worth it because our defence worked so hard in keeping Barca out for a whole second half, and for it to be rounded off by a goal scored by Fernando Torres, it was just a beautiful sight!
It was difficult to begin with however, as goals from Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta had put the tie in their favour with goals that you had expected to see at some point in the game. Sandwich those goals with a stupid dismissal of John Terry after he had jousted a knee into the back of Alexis Sanchez which was just…. uncalled for! At 2-0 down, and with JT sent off, it seemed like we had lost the plot, and JT was to be blamed for everything……
….not on our watch!!
Ramires, linking up well with Frank Lampard puts us back in it with a tremendous lob over Victor Valdes, and puts us right back into the tie, scoring a huge and vital away goal… half time whistle goes, and we all start to believe again!
The beginning of the second half started very sourly though, as Barcelona got a penalty after Cesc Fabregas played for a foul following Drogba’s tackle on him, but Lionel Messi, whom despite his world class fame, had never scored a goal against Chelsea in his career, and has his penalty pinged off the bar and came out.. you could say, that the blue angel that had watched over us in the game at Stamford Bridge, was certainly on our side at the Nou Camp as well!
The Barcelona wave was not done there however! Alexis Sanchez almost beat the offside trap to nod the ball in only for it to be waved off. Javier Mascherano tested Petr Cech from some way out, and Messi tested Cech from the same distance, only for it to be palmed lightly onto the post! In between these efforts though, endured more than just blood, sweat and tears, as we constantly defended for our lives.. a squad that had no Terry or Cahill, Jose Bosingwa playing at “LEFT centre back” and a man light!
…. and then …. it happened!
Ashley Cole deep in the penalty box hoofed the ball up the pitch, and on the end of it, the lone substitute, Fernando Torres who sprinted up the pitch all alone in the Barcelona half, up came Valdes to meet him, but Torres was able to sneak round him and roll the ball into the net, levelling the score up at 2-2 and sending us to Munich for our second European Final in 4 years!
Now if THAT GOAL, is not worth £50 million, then I could probably sell my tatty old sofa for the same amount at a car boot sale if I wanted to! And if that goal doesn’t bring back his old self again, you might as well sign me up and put me up front and sell Drogba!
To this day, I still can’t believe how we did it, with 10 footballers on the pitch, no recognised centrebacks and no captain, we beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp.. it just goes to show, that no matter how well-recognised a football club is for their beautiful football, it doesn’t mean they’re the best and that they’re not beatable! Football is a funny game!
I will never forget this night, and I hope to the heavens that we can beat Bayern Munich in the final. The odds are stacked against us because Munich will be playing on familiar grounds, but to me, that’s bullshit! If we can beat one of the greatest football clubs, who play the greatest football ever seen.. in their own back yard, we can dispose of the Germans, and we will finally win what Roman Abramovich has been dreaming of having for a whole decade… the European Trophy! ….. and we will be the first London club to do so as well!!
chrismada9cfc 
Leave a comment