Revenge is sweet
March 8, 2006Barcelona drew with Chelsea 1-1 in the second leg of the Champions League pre quarter finals to advance on aggregate (3-2) having won the first leg 2-1.
Revenge is sweet. Last year was heart breaking for the fans of Barcelona including yours truly. The exit after losing to Chelsea in the two leg Champions League pre quarters was very hard to digest. After all Barcelona was playing excellent football. Being excellent is not good enough though. The game is so uncertain that it can change within minutes. You have to fight against the unpredictable nature of the game itself. That is when a team keeps winning which translates to real greatness.
Coming to the game. Chelsea started off controversially arriving late in the tunnel. Jose Mourinho was already there but the team wasn’t. It meant that the start was delayed by three minutes. The early game saw some excellent passes between Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho. A great and a possible future great combining to create magic. Messi limped off in the 25th minute, which may explain why he missed the weekend La Liga match, to be replaced by Henrik Larsson.
The first half was tight with Barcelona having more possession. They had a lot more chances as well. Chelsea managed a few chances which were more dangerous but without result. Crespo replaced Drogba in the 58th minute while Mourinho theatricals were showing no signs of reducing in the back ground. Crespo soon had a real chance of scoring but strike was wide to the anguish of Chelsea.
