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Soccer Tuesday: Your Running Commentary

MessiTerry (Reuters Pictures)

It's do or die for Chelsea and Barcelona today, and in many ways it's the same for Aston Villa and Bolton, albeit under completely different circumstances.

The two UEFA Champions League semifinalists battle for a place in the Munich final at Camp Nou, with Barcelona looking to rebound from last week's 1-0 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and the 2-1 home loss over the weekend to rival Real Madrid in league play. 

As for Bolton, the Premier League club that employs Americans Tim Ream and Stuart Holden is in a fight for its top-flight life and desperately needs points to climb out of the drop zone with the season winding down. Bolton take on Eric Lichaj and Brad Guzan's Aston Villa, another club threatened by relegation but one a few points clear of the bottom three. The level of urgency and desperation for both teams should make for one tense atmosphere at Villa Park.

Here is the viewing schedule for the day's matches:

2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Barcelona vs. Chelsea

2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer2Go – Aston Villa vs. Bolton

If you will be watching either of Tuesday's matches, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the action.

Comments

  1. “Bolton survived the first half onslaught, with defender Tim Ream impressing, and looked more of a threat after the break with Mark Davies influential in midfield.” – ESPN

    sounds like Ream played well.

    “Bolton boss Owen Coyle and Villa coach Kevin MacDonald had to be kept apart by fourth official Craig Pawson after Miyaichi was bundled into touch by Villa full-back Eric Lichaj.” – ESPN

    Doesn’t say anything about overall play of Lichaj, but that was a pretty funny line to read.

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  2. What wing play? I don’t think Barca ever recovered when David Villa went down, they were much better with him and Pedro on the wings. I swear they just play 10 midfielders out there.

    Back up the bank truck to a certain RVP as far as point 1…

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  3. Football. Bloody hell. What a classic victory, that was more of an upset than Inter beating Barca.

    Who Chelsea are missing for the final: Terry, Ramires, Ivanovic and Meireles. No way, right? Right?

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  4. Anybody else see what looked like handling in the Chelsea box right before the ball was sent to Torres on his goal? Couldn’t get a good replay.

    Exciting game. Chelsea still has a huge mountain to climb no matter who they face in the final being down so many men and facing either Madrid (current best team in the world?) or Bayern (home match). Props to them for making it this far, though. Especially given how the rest of their year is going.

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  5. Barca were definitely creating chances in the last 20 minutes. Chelsea were able to pack it in, and Torres came through when it mattered as the man to relieve pressure.

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  6. there was no game winner and since Barca did not score another goal, his goal was just icing. game ended 2-2, 3-2 on agg. but the Ramieres goal was the “series winner”

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  7. Hats off to Chelsea (other than Terry), very impressive performance. This tie looked like a joke 2 weeks ago, but a VERY worthy and memorable addition to the Barca-Chelsea CL saga.

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  8. wow. all I can say is wow.

    It’s been coming all year since Barca has looked mortal all season, but it’s still hard to believe their year is essentially over.

    Full credit to Chelsea for never quitting.

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  9. you should wait to see what happens tomorrow…

    also, there are still 3 spanish teams in Europa. so because one English team makes it to the final, that discredits the fact that there were 5 Spanish teams and 1 English team in the semis of the CL and Europa?

    what if Madrid make it? then La Liga will match the EPL this year in CL and have more teams (at least one) in the Europe final.

    come on now…

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  10. really? i thought they looked good. they created a lot of chances they should’ve finished. game was super tense and exciting.

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  11. too early to declare the end of Barca’s dominance. Chelsea was hanging on for dear life for a lot of that second half. And though that pk call wasn’t legitimate the red card certainly was.

    a few signings, the blossoming of some of their youth ranks, messi is still young, who knows, they could come back and win a treble next year?

    hopefully not tho.

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  12. Great win by Chelsea. Pep/Barcelona reign is over. Reasons,
    1. No striker/ Messi worn out running down middle
    2. The “new” additions to first 11, Thiago, Cesc, Alexi, just not good enough.
    3. Poor wing play, Chelsea almost never doubled on the wingers, thus keeping the middle closed.

    Reply

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