Barcelona Fail To Unlock Chelsea, All To Play For At Stamford Bridge

Two hundred and forty. Two hundred and forty. No, that's not the number of players Chelsea had behind the ball (though it sure seemed like it). Actually, two hundred and forty is the number of days since the last time Barcelona failed to score in a game, home or away, in any competition. Two hundred and forty.

There are two basic ways to thinking about Chelsea's tactics today. The first is what I would call the "rationalist-instrumentalist" school. This school would say that sport is ultimately about winning, that you do what you have to within the rules of the game to come out on top, and that entertainment should complement, but not come at the price of, winning. Such a school would have no problem with Chelsea's display today, and would in fact encourage it.

The second school can be called the "purist romantic" school. This school would say it cheapens sport when you play it a certain way -- especially football. This school would have you believe that it's not just how successful you are, but how you are successful. People subscribing to this philosophy would be disgusted that a team costing hundreds of millions of pounds basically played like Greece in Euro 2004.

To be honest, I don't know where I stand in this debate. I'm obviously disappointed that Chelsea -- especially after Hiddink promised to attack -- had ten men behind the ball at all times, and played as if punting it down time and again to Drogba constituted their best chance to win. But I also understand that this was a first leg, that Chelsea know that they just have to nick one goal at the Bridge and keep Barca out, and they're through, and that at the end of the day, you're supposed to play for trophies, not photographs. Look, they came to the Camp Nou with a very specific plan, with a very specific goal, and executed it to perfection. They did their job.

I will say this though: it should never have come down to Chelsea's tactics. Barcelona played poorly. Ok, perhaps that's a bit harsh. Let's say Barcelona played well below average. Messi had a terrible game, misplacing passes and mistiming runs. I've never seen Messi not play well in a big game. This was the first time. Henry and Eto'o squandered a golden chance each -- the former wasted his by holding up the ball as defenders were backtracking (he is wont to do) -- and the latter by being a touch selfish on a two-on-two opening in the second half. Bojan missed an absolute sitter right in front of goal, and indeed deprived Messi of a simple tap-in, who had an even easier chance than Bojan did if he had just let it go. The passing wasn't as crisp, the movement not as decisive, and the final ball not as cutting as we are used to seeing. Some of the credit should go to Chelsea for that. But most of it was simply down to Barcelona's less than average performance.

I'll tell you who wasn't less than average though: Victor Valdes. He has been much maligned on many Barcelona forums -- including here -- but I have always maintained he's an excellent shot stopper (it's his positioning and judgment that's a problem). He could very well have saved Barca today with that save against Drogba. It was funny: as soon as the ball went to Marquez, and I saw him shaping up to pass it back through the middle instead of safely playing it out for the corner, I had a feeling he would miscue it into Drogba's path. I just had a feeling -- you get a type of sixth sense with these things when you watch a team week in week out. But well done to Valdes; without him, this tie would be over right now. Kudos to Iniesta and Xavi too, the two best players on the pitch from either team. And Yaya had a decent game, especially after a nervy start. But everyone else flattered to deceive, including the entire Chelsea team. Essien? Lampard? Ballack? Honestly didn't see them the whole game, except for one or two vicious tackles from Ballack.

A note on Dani Alves and Drogba: I'm actually quite speechless at their antics. Dani Alves does this every week, and someone's got to put a stop to it. I'm sorry, but it reflects badly on the entire team and the Barcelona culture, especially when everyone else plays the Right Way. Guardiola should give him a talking to. And Drogba is as bad. It cheapens the sport in general, and it frustrates the living daylights of the opposition, as well as fans watching at home. Quite disgraceful to be honest.

So onwards we march. Barcelona play at the Bernabeu this Saturday, and should expect similar roughing up. Then it's up to London next Wednesday. It remains to be seen if Chelsea will play the same way. There's always a risk that if they open up, they get scythed to pieces on the other end. And to be honest, they weren't that far off from being scythed to pieces today: it was only around the 35 minute mark, when the heavy and late challenges (and the attendant yellow cards) came that Barca lost their flow and rhthym. And Barcelona looked quite dangerous in the last ten minutes, when they adopted a more direct approach. But they'll be ruing their missed chances, no doubt.

Ultimately, the most interesting aspect of a 0-0 first leg is that neither team feels particularly comfortable in the interim seven days. I think Chelsea are happier than Barcelona at the moment, to be sure, but I don't think Barcelona are plagued by the self-doubt that they were a year ago in the same position (against United, after a similiar story in a park-the-bus first leg). So it's all to play for next week. Let's hope we actually get a game then.

UPDATE: Quick thoughts on the penalty shout. Was it a penalty? Probably. But the ref's not going to see a pull on the shirt from that distance at that angle. You can't blame them, and it wasn't an especially egregious foul. It was just bad enough to get Henry away from a shooting position, and so was successful in its aim even if it was undesirable. Kind of like Chelsea's tactics the whole night.

UPDATE II: Another point I forgot to make was the relationship between Chelsea's tactics on the one hand, and the Premier League's supposed supremacy on the other. I have a simple question: if the premiership is all that, why do it's best representatives come to the Camp Nou every year and put 10 guys behind the ball? Do they not have the self-belief and courage to play against us the way they play against each other? Would Chelsea have ever played like that against United or Liverpool, home or away, League or Cup? And if not, what does it say about the purported gulf in class between the leagues?

UPDATE III: Quote of the day, from Sid Lowe's review of the Spanish press:

"What would you take on a desert island?" asks Carles Rupiérez. "You could always go to Didier Drogba for suggestions. He had 89 minutes to think about it last night, 89 minutes to choose a book, a CD, to go for a mobile phone or a Swiss army knife or a lighter to make fires. Every now and then Piqué or Márquez visited him as they went to collect some strange object his team-mates occasionally sent his way, always by air mail."

UPDATE IV: Just got done watching the Arsenal-United game (except for the first twenty minutes of the second half). Man, I feel stupid picking Arsenal. Whether it was because I have an affinity for Arsenal's Diet Barcelona style, or whether I felt sorry for AKS and Nikhil, or whether I just wanted to pick against Ronaldo's team just because (rooting against Real next year will be even more fun), or whether I just wanted to hear the end of the constant quintuple/quadruple chit-chat on the Guardian blogs from annoying United supporters, it's clear I went with what I wanted to see rather than what I would see. Arsenal didn't even arrive on the pitch until the 25th minute, by which time they really should have been three down if it weren't for Almunia.

In general, there was a massive gulf in quality between the sides, at least based on today's evidence. I don't know if time (6 days) and a change in location (from OT to the Emirates) is really going to change that. United simply looked a better team -- much better -- and I've rarely seen a game in the latter stages of the Champions League where one team simply doesn't seem to cut it.

Am I allowed to revisit my pick? Ah, nevermind.