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Barcelona 2, Chelsea 2: Match Highlights

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  1. ??? I hate Duke basketball, the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Lakers, L.A. Galaxy, the Cowboys, Barçelona, Chelsea, Man City, Intermilan, Club América, Corinthians among others, doesn’t mean I don’t like their sports or can’t respect their game. Destesting a team is a sign that you are a fan

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  2. Right – let’s not go nuts here, defending with 11 (or 10) is what less talented teams do to beat more talented teams. they also had enough talent to capitalize on the two chances they had. it’s definitely an admirable accomplishment, but these “end of an era” comments are pretty ridiculous.

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  3. Praise Di Matteo and Chelsea. They never wavered on their defensive plan. They stayed tight and narrow and never went wide to help their FB’s.

    If Pep is going to return to the top, he’ll need to bring in and incorporate a striker such as Etoo’ or improve the wing play. His middle options/players have been exhausted and taken away.

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  4. Chelsea, Mourinho, Greece win games, don’t give up early goals and beat the teams they are supposed to beat. Why is Bradley even in this discussion?

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  5. i guess this why its so rare that teams repeat as champs of torneys like the champs league (or torneys like the nfl playoffs– although those are one-offs, unlike the 2 games for uefa). on any given sunday, a somewhat lesser team has a shot at beating a better team if it converts its chances and plays hard, and can then play bunker ball in game 2. barca is really good, but not so much better than everyone else that it can avoid losing here and there.

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  6. It’s really beside the point to argue one style of play versus another. The situation called for Chelsea to bunker down and play the counter; they did a really good job of it. Barca needed to play their usual possession game in order to take the lead; they did so but looked too exhausted to hold on and they showed some weaknesses we aren’t accustomed to seeing.

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  7. You’re really not making much sense.

    You concede Barcelona and Real Madrid are the best in the world, but you say there is more depth at the top of the EPL. As I already said my statement of La Liga being the best wasn’t just based on Barcelona and Real Madrid. Spain has completely dominated the Europa which is the measure of teams lower down in their league. If the EPL has more depth at the top of the EPL than La Liga why couldn’t a single team from the EPL make it to the final four in the Europa?

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  8. that penalty miss by messi is the only instance i can think of where you can legitimately say messi “choked.” from what i’ve seen, the guy consistently plays big on the big occassions, including in classicos and in big champs league games. his lack of production at the wc had as much to with maradonna (and argentina’s lack of midfield talent) as with his performance. for whatever tactical reasons or because of argentina’s lack of midfield talent, he was playing to deep to create goals.

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  9. when Chelsea, Mourinho, Greece or whoever plays with 10 men on their own half, they are geniuses and/or brilliant tacticians…

    When Bob Bradley played bunker ball, he was a tool that deserved to be fired.

    double standard much?

    and so much jealousy on this site about barcelona, they are good. focus on your team and don’t worry about the rest.

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  10. Well Pep Guardiola´s Barcelona has not been able to beat Chelsea. So its not a fluke, Chelsea has Barcelona´s number.

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  11. Lol handball it hits Ashley Cole´s chestñ how is that a handball?

    I am a Chelsea supporter and luck didnt have anything to do with it. But KARMA did, it was payback for 2009 heck even in yesterdays game the ref gifted Barcelona a penalty.

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  12. And here is another snob. What he is saying is that Barcelona style of play is not the only one.

    Barcelona fans claimed that if you dont play Barcelonas style or let them play that the other team doesnt play soccer or belong in the same field.

    Football is meant to be played in whatever style you want to play. Hell if you dont like defending you can play without defenders but lets see how far that gets you.

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  13. Okay,

    Was I the only one who noticed the blatant handball that set up Torres’s goal? It’s not shown on these highlights, but it’s a clearer penalty than the first one Barcelona recieved.

    I’m not worried about the result, since I don’t support either team, but it would be nice if Chelsea supporters especially would aknowledge the role of lady luck in their victory.

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  14. Barca lost on the road to the team currently sitting sixth in the EPL table, and then couldn’t beat them at home, even though Chelsea played more than half of the match down a man after their captain and best defender was sent off. Clearly La Liga is the best league in the world and Barca and Real far and away the best teams. QED

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  15. Come on, they were down a man on the road to a technically more talented side. They had to play defensively, crying ‘anti-football’ isn’t fair.

    Oh God, am I actually defending Chelsea?

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  16. Barca may have dominated possession, but they didn’t look particularly good, their passing was nothing special, and their goals were hardly spectacular. Usually, yes, their play is more attractive, but yesterday I’d argue Chelsea played the more attractive game. At least they gave us two memorable goals and a few fine saves. What did Barca do in that game that you’ll remember? Fabregas’s dive?

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  17. Your second statement doesn’t support your first. Barça and Madrid are obviously the class of the world right now, but I don’t think you can say that about the rest of Spain. There is more depth at the top of the EPL table than the Spanish table.

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  18. Messi usually waits until the World Cup to choke. I know Maradonna, I’ve seen Maradonna. Mr. Messi you’re no Diego Maradonna.

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  19. La Liga is a better league than the EPL, top to bottom. Barcelona and Real Madrid, if placed in the EPL, would be 1-2 by a wide margin.

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  20. You can’t be serious? Chelsea will be lucky if they even qualify for a Europa spot next year by way of their league play. Manchester United are not as good as Barcelona and they have completely outclassed Chelsea. Just because Chelsea found a way to not lose a game in which they were being completely outplayed does not make them a better team. I guess the long season means nothing?

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  21. Ridiculous to say that they are a better team than Chelsea, this wasn’t a one off game, they played twice, Chelsea proved to be the better team. I am no fan of either, in fact detest both, but it is clear that Chelsea is the better team, it is also clear that Barça is more talented, but that isn’t what wins games.

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  22. I have been under the impression that the Premier League is generally considered to be the best league in the world, and has been for some time. However, looking at what Spain is doing in Europe seems to make a really great case for La Liga being the best.

    I know Barcelona won’t be going to the final now, but love them or hate them, I think it’s obvious they are a much better team than Chelsea. I think if it had not been for this fluke of a result we would have been looking at a Real Madrid vs Barcelona final, and when you combine that with the top four teams in the Europa all being from Spain, that would have been the top six teams in Europe being from Spain! That’s pretty dominating.

    Anyone else think Spain may have surpassed the Premier League as the best league in the world?

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  23. Oh well, given that Chelsea is the new gold standard of how soccer should be played, the teams and fans will finally start realizing that parking the bus and playing hopeful long balls is the right way to play the game. However, I agree with you 100% about Ramires’ goal not getting enough credit.

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  24. Barcelona’s style of play is not the end-of-argument best way to play the game. What Chelsea showed us is that defense can win you big games. Barcelona couldn’t break their opponents counter-attack gameplan and for that they lost.

    Football is not won by possession. It’s won by number of goals scored. Chelsea won to remind us all of this.

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  25. Pure class from Barcelona fans. They gave their team a standing ovation after the game. With 5 domestic, 3 european, and 2 world championships since 2004 they are still one of the great clubs in the world. Barcelona fans should still be proud of what their team has accomplished.

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  26. Don: You can dislike Barca all you want..and call them arrogant. YOu can admire Chelsea’s grit, even with thugs like Terry, but i’m not sure how Chelsea’s win and the way they played and won is a “great result for the game”.

    I hope your opinion is not based on actual style of play.

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  27. I agree. It is nice to see Barcelona brought back down to earth. I have been tired of hearing how they and Messi are Gods gift to football. I think the reality of this tie was that Chelsea somehow managed to keep Messi off the score sheet (and was lucky too) and that allowed them to win. With Villa injured Barca is a one man show offensively.

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  28. Fantastic. What a great result for the game. It’s an end of an era for Barcelona and their arrogant claims to be the only club in the world that plays football.

    Question about Foxsoccer: why do they keep emphasizing Torres’ goal over that of Ramires? Ramires’ goal was more important for deciding the tie and was a more difficult finish. Nothing against Torres, who once was my favorite player in the world, but I think Ramires deserves GOTD honors.

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