Chelsea V Inter

Chelsea play a very defensive game,pat yourselves on the back and expect big congratulations yet when teams like us have gone to the bridge and played for a point or tried to contain you we have been criticised by your managers and supporters for 'parking the bus' Double standards I think?

wild_rover

I find that hard to believe. Most of our fans are usually more concerned with our pathetic lack of creativity to break down these very barriers.

Wild_ Rover

To be fair to CFC, they (like 99% of teams) would be slaughtered if they played an open expansive game, so IMO their tactics were spot on.

As Barca (somehow) failed to score RdM and CFC have to be credited, as their game plan worked and they won the game.

Whether a one goal lead is enough to take to Catalyuna is another matter but if they score first who knows.

i always find the Chelsea fans on here accept any style of football from any team and we are gracious losers on here too unless the ref is Chris Foy or Phil Dowd!

Inter lost 1-0 at the nou camp as well. They won the first leg 3-1 and went through. Chelsea have to score in my opinion to go through because Barca will score at least 1 goal

yeh true. inter did get 3 goals at the san siro - this 1 nil lead basically means nothing because 99% barcelona will score at the nou camp

It means we beat barca in the champions league. That alone is amazing.

had of
-

'had have' or 'had've'.

not 'of'.

Nou Camp 2009 0-0
That was with a defence of:
Ivanovic Alex Terry Bosingwa

Inter's defensive display was slightly more impressive given that they played with 10 men for a majority of the match at an intimidating stadium like the Camp Noue, limiting to Barcelona to just a couple of chances throughout (Chelsea conceded a few more).

However I would say that this Barcelona team has improved since then, particularly since discarding Ibrahimovic and moving Messi into a CF position. With the Argentine's quick-thinking and quick-feet in congested spaces, they're more adept at breaking down teams that play with 8/9/10 behind the ball. Messi's movement deep has added another dimension to their play, CBs get confused when he does so and there was a great example last night on 9 mins where he came short for the ball, Terry followed him and Alexis Sanchez managed to exploit the space left behind to hit the bar. So I think Chelsea's defence had a little more to contend with than Inter a couple of years ago.

Both excellent defensive performances really. But I don't think Chelsea can pull the same off at the Camp Nou, the home advantage and pressure will see Chelsea succumb eventually IMO. Barcelona seem to have a bit of a mental block when it comes to finishing chances away from home (on the evidence of CL knockout ties in recent years), I don't think they'll quite have the same problem at the Camp Nou. It's almost a given that Messi will score from a half-chance.