Chelsea 2 - 2 Barcelona ; Fabregas bemoans 'unjust' defeat
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Barcelona 2 Chelsea 2 (agg 2-3): Salute the incredibles! Terry off, 2-0 down but brave Blues hit back to reach final
Magic moment: Torres celebrates after bagging the goal which confirmed Chelsea's position in the final
MATCH FACTS
Barcelona: Valdes, Puyol, Pique (Dani Alves 26), Mascherano, Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta, Cuenca (Tello 58), Messi, Sanchez, Fabregas (Keita 74).
Subs not used: Pinto, Thiago, Pedro, Adriano.
Booked: Iniesta, Messi.
Goals: Busquets 35, Iniesta 43.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill (Bosingwa 12), Terry, Cole, Obi, Meireles, Mata (Kalou 58), Lampard, Ramires, Drogba (Torres 80).
Subs not used: Turnbull, Essien, Malouda, Sturridge.
Booked: Cech, Ivanovic, Ramires, Lampard Mikel.
Sent off: Terry.
Goals: Ramires 45+1, Torres 90+2
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey)
Amid the chaos created by a captain’s insane indiscipline, Chelsea’s Incredibles emerged on Tuesday night.
This was a group of players who somehow survived for 54 minutes in the absence of the dismissed John Terry and secured their passage to the Champions League final; a team who stopped a Barcelona side that had already scored 102 goals at home this season before this semi-final began.
In doing so, they joined the ranks of the European greats.
It was not just the loss of Terry that presented them with a problem. It was not just that, with only 10 men, they were facing the finest team the world has ever seen. It was the fact they triumphed without a single centre half on the pitch, having already lost Gary Cahill to injury.Manager Roberto Di Matteo was whistling when he walked through the media zone shortly after the final whistle, cool as you like.
But an Italian — who might just lose the ‘interim’ part of his job title before long — had masterminded an astonishing victory.
It was a performance that might have superseded Manchester United’s display on this same Nou Camp pitch in 1999, when they beat Bayern Munich in the final. It might even have been the most extraordinary contest witnessed in this competition.
By the end Di Matteo had organised his side in a 6-3 formation, with Salomon Kalou doubling up alongside Ramires at right back and Fernando Torres sitting outside Ashley Cole at left back. Want to know how to cope with Barcelona’s big pitch? Just play four full backs.
Opener: Busquets opens the scoring on the night - sliding the ball home from seven yards out and celebrates (below)
That Ramires and Torres also scored Chelsea’s goals made it all the more memorable and that bit more special. The first came from the Brazilian just before the interval when it seemed Barcelona were on the road to Bavaria, while Torres added the coup de grace in second-half stoppage time.
Together with Terry, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles, Ramires will miss the final because of the booking he received here last night.
But that did not stop him sprinting the full length of the field, from his new position in the makeshift back-four, to run on to a pass from Frank Lampard before sending a quite brilliant chip over the advancing Victor Valdes and into the net.
Double your money: Iniesta rounds off a wonderful move to extend Barca's lead on the night
It was amazing. It was Roy Keane — who missed that 1999 final — in a Chelsea shirt. It was enough to make grown men cry.
When Chelsea fans who were here share their recollections of the night, they will reflect on that moment in the context of the 10 or so dramatic minutes that came before.
Chelsea had done well to limit Barcelona to one decent chance in the opening half an hour, with Petr Cech denying Lionel Messi after the best player on the planet had executed a marvellous one-two with Cesc Fabregas.
Smash and grab: Chelsea found themselves back in charge via Ramires' delicate strike on the stroke of half-time
But it was looking ominous for the visitors the moment they lost Cahill to injury after only 12 minutes, forcing Di Matteo to deploy Jose Bosingwa on the flank and move Ivanovic to centre half.
In those 10 first-half minutes, though, Chelsea appeared to collapse and capitulate.
It started when Sergio Busquets met a neat cross from Isaac Cuenca to score, continued two minutes later when Terry mindlessly drove his knee into the leg of Alexis Sanchez and concluded with Andres Iniesta dropping off the right shoulder of Ramires — now at right back thanks to the need to switch Bosingwa to centre-half — to collect a wonderful pass from Messi before slipping his shot beyond the reach of Cech.
Seeing red: Chelsea were right up against it after being reduced to ten men when captain Terry was sent off
Surely it was game over. Surely Barcelona would succeed only in building on their lead and leave Terry to reflect on yet more Champions League misery — a penalty for his madness to add to the penalty he missed in Moscow.
But then came the comeback of comebacks — a defiant fight for survival that will strike fear into whichever side they meet in Munich on May 19.
Taking a tumble: Valdes, Drogba and Pique collide, leaving the Barca defender out for the count
The goal from Ramires nearly counted for nothing when, two minutes after the break, Fabregas appeared to dive after a challenge from Didier Drogba in the penalty area and Messi was invited by referee Cuneyt Cakir to score from the spot. But Messi had never scored in seven previous meetings with Chelsea and that record was extended to eight when his effort crashed off Cech’s bar and bounced to safety.
Flashpoint: The players lost their composure briefly in the second-half after the the Barca bench celebrate the opener (below)
Even then, it only seemed a matter of time before the Catalans would score again.
Sanchez had one goal ruled out for offside, while Messi was denied by the brilliance of Cech when the Chelsea goalkeeper diverted another shot against a post.
That Di Matteo’s makeshift side survived a further 43 minutes after Messi’s penalty miss was remarkable, but it was the product of serious hard graft and intense concentration — defending at its finest.
Blue is the colour! Chelsea celebrate after Torres' late goal rounded off a memorable night for the west Londoners
In front of the defensive line stood three midfielders in Frank Lampard, Meireles and John Mikel Obi who battled every bit as courageously, demonstrating exactly why this Barcelona team do not like playing against them.
That Chelsea scored a second goal was irrelevant in the end, even if it did add to the joy for the visitors and the despair for the hosts.
All smiles: Di Matteo celebrates the most unlikely of victories after Torres rounded Valdes to score the second
Torres must have loved it, though, racing clear in pursuit of a ball forward from Ivanovic before casually taking it around Valdes and scoring into an empty net.
Pure delight: Chelsea players and staff race onto the pitch on the full time whistle
Di Matteo had said his side would need to produce ‘two perfect performances’ to win this semi-final, but not even he would have envisaged this.
Take a bow, Chelsea’s Incredibles.
Roll on Munich: Chelsea will face Real Madrid or Bayern in the final
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Ivan’s terrible news
Barcelona 2 Chelsea 2
MISSING OUT ... Branislav Ivanovic is suspended for the finalLast Updated: 25th April 2012CHELSEA put in the performance of a lifetime to beat Barcelona in the Champions League — but it came at a price.
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I dunno if this can be called karma.
I wonder how on earth chelsea, 1 man down and still can score 2 goals at Nou Camp.
but Barcelona will be back next season, made no mistake. they are still the overwhelming favourites next season.
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no terry no ivanovic, no ramires, no Meireles in the finals. I wonder how they can cope without so many players out of the finals. maybe the footballing gods must be smiling at chelsea this season, who knows, they may end up as CL winners, but failed to finish top 4, but qualify as winners for next season.
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If Chelsea wins the European Cup, well fairy tales do come true, right? And we all want that to happen. On the other hand, it sux because you can also say they bought it. If di matteo loses and gets the sack, it's deja vu ala avram grant. Eerie huh.
If Real wins, it is also bought. So......I hope Bayern wins, well at least it's a team which is made up of nationalities from its native country as compared to Real.
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conspiracy
no one will ever defend their throphy
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Bayern also bought it too. They paid a large sum of money for Ribery, Robben, Mario Gomez and Neuer
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tell me which club didnt spend money on players to win titles. man u spent a lot of money too. before RA bought chelsea how much did man u spent on players every season? i bet they 'bought' all their titles too.
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si bay ho ah.................................
Bayern for the title........................
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Originally posted by dragg:
tell me which club didnt spend money on players to win titles.
man u spent a lot of money too. before RA bought chelsea how much did man u spent on players every season? i bet they ‘bought’ all their titles too.
tottenham becos they dun have $
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Torres does it
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poetic justice or karma if you like
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when they attacking/pressuring so much
they forgotten about their def line.. -
If you asked me, i think it was meant to be... lol.
Barce are the holders and no holders have ever successfully defended the cup.
And if that is not enough, how about Barce having an all important title decided match against Real smack right in the middle of their 2 legs game? How convenient is that for Chelsea... lol.
But Barce isn't the Barce of 3, 4 yrs ago as well... Puyol, Alves are old and Xavi is not as good as he was too. Iniesta is getting on in yrs as well. And the new guys like Fabregas and Sanchez isn't really great...
If you asked me, I think Barce rated the La Liga league title more than the CL and went all out for it against Real by not resting their players. While Chelsea rested 8 players 3 days before this match.
I think it's written in the stars... Just like it had to be Torres a Madrid guy putting the final nail in... Or Terry won't play in another CL final...
Now Chelsea go on and win it for the premier league... Then someone will next say, Wah... even the 6th best team in epl is stronger than the la liga top 2...
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Fabregas bemoans 'unjust' defeat
By ESPNsoccernet staff
GettyImagesLionel Messi looks dejected after Barcelona's defeat to ChelseaCesc Fabregas decried Barcelona's shock Champions League semi-final defeat to Chelsea as "unjust" and insisted his team must now switch their focus to the Copa del Rey.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Chelsea saw the tie levelled on aggregate when Sergio Busquets tapped home Isaac Cuenca's cross and their task became even greater when John Terry was sent off for kneeing Alexis Sanchez in the back.
But Ramires grabbed a goal right on half time to put Chelsea in the ascendancy once more, and a gargantuan rearguard effort from Chelsea saw them hold on for the second half with ten men until Fernando Torres broke away to score in injury time and seal the defending champions' exit.
"Football is unjust sometimes," Fabregas said. "If there's one way you want to lose, it's like this, being true to our style.
"I'm 24 years old, and I've never seen the Camp Nou react like this after a defeat. This is a great team, we'll be back next year.
"Now we have to think about the four last Liga games and then the cup final. This team, this club, has always risen again."
Barcelona's president Sandro Rosell said it was important to take the defeat in the right manner.
"We have fought for 90 minutes, we stayed true to our game," he said. "I am proud of the team and the fans. Now we must prepare for cup final.
"We've shown that we can win, and now it's the time to show that we can lose too. It has been a hard blow, but you can only congratulate Chelsea. You should be able to accept defeat."
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si fabregas
u dive to get a pen
but heng , messi miss..
drogba and torres (sub) demoted to WF at 2nd half -
I dont understand the torres goal
I thought he was offisde?
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Quite surprise with the result actually. But Chelsea was really great. Barca need to rethink their game plan le. Messi alone is not enough for them to beat everyone.
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If I was the Chelsea's manager, I think I will sell off JT soon at the end of the season.
Important games like this and he gets himself sent off.
Who can forget he missed the crucial penalty in the final before and how he slipped during the 5-3 defeat against Arsenal recently?
Chelsea must thank every player except JT for this victory.
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AVB must be damn sad watching it at home on TV.
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Originally posted by gunner77:
I dont understand the torres goal
I thought he was offisde?
When opponent last man cross over the halfway line, the offside rule doesnt work.
Last night. Barcelona last man is at Chelsea's half, when Torres get the ball is at Chelsea half so he is not consider as offside.
Correct me if I am wrong.
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Originally posted by weiz87:
When opponent last man cross over the halfway line, the offside rule doesnt work.
Last night. Barcelona last man is at Chelsea's half, when Torres get the ball is at Chelsea half so he is not consider as offside.
Correct me if I am wrong.
Oh i see!Thanks for telling me bro.
Make sense now, i was quite puzzled yesterday when torres scores, i thought it was clear offside.
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The soccer fans are sick of Barca winnning.
Chelsea are the drama that every one want to watch.
It will be Chelsea vs RM in the final
Cos no one want to watch BM vs Chelsea.
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I watched the repeat this morning. Chelsea were MAGNIFICENT. 2 goals down, 1 man down and they still came back with 2 goals. Can't help but admire such doggedness. These fightbacks have been the stuff of immortality all these years. I hope they go on to win it. Hahaha shit man, no shit. Wtf, Chelsea???!?!?!
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Originally posted by Medicated Oil:
The soccer fans are sick of Barca winnning.
Chelsea are the drama that every one want to watch.
It will be Chelsea vs RM in the final
Cos no one want to watch BM vs Chelsea.
bayen won. sianzzzz. i hate it when the host qualify for the final. its like an away match for the opposition. in this case, chelsea.