Londoners and Catalans moved in the right direction, taking away from Real Madrid and Juventus the right to the most important fights of the year. To achieve serious attention, football alone is not enough. Need packing. You need to be very different from each other, so dramatically to use contrast. Opponents succeeded: it is unlikely that Marquez runs 800 meters worse than Terry, but everyone around them is absolutely sure that Chelsea is power and Barcelona is grace. So techies versus athletes. Much more entertaining ...
And then, it is advisable to dislike each other and even say nasty things in the press. So spectacular. This has long been understood by Jose Mourinho, a big fan of barbs. Therefore, there is talk of pressure on the judge or the destroyed lawn of the English stadium. On a football forum on Tuesday, I was asked if it was true that sand was delivered by trucks to Stamford Bridge to spoil the pitch. It seems that opponents of Chelsea are confident that the Portuguese himself scatters this sand at night ... Frank Rajkaard, who in his youth realized that spitting at the enemy sometimes ends with disqualifications, behaves calmer. And this, again, is spectacularly not like the categorical and naughty coach of the English.
“I hope that we will finish the match in full force,” Mourinho said briefly before the match. One can not forget the removal of Del Orno last season and the beautiful fall of Messi, which caused a flash of rage in London. The stands of the coach understood and the whole match every touch by the Argentinean ball revived with an indignant whistle ... ..
However, there were no more mutual reproaches before the match. On the contrary, politely complimented. These are not nervous fights for relegation, but just ordinary matches of the group stage. You can concede, although it is insulting. Better yet, win.
The composition could be predicted with a maximum of two attempts. Barca lost Eto'o to Gudjohnsen. Chelsea closed the goal gap by goalkeeper Ilariu. Who is this Portuguese, nobody really knew before the game. Mourinho pointed to the experience of a 31-year-old goalkeeper who played a hundred and a half matches in his country's championship. The experience was enough to cope with three or four of the simple blows that the Catalans awarded Hilario. The goalkeeper was still nervous and made some strange jumps, as if he was afraid to hit. I was most happy about the victory goal and laughed exultantly when I saw the ball in my gloves immediately after the final whistle. Ilariu was very lucky. “Barcelona” was never able to tap the defense of the owners, in order to find voids there. There were no gaps, mistakes too. There was nothing but a competent game of Londoners and their advantages in the middle of the field. The guests ran a little and mixed up. It seems that Mourinho seriously studied the matches of last season, when the “blue” looked the same bewildered, aimlessly rolling the ball on the “Nou Camp”. On Wednesday evening, all two moments of the luxurious Barcelona fit in the first half, in the second the Champions Cup winners finally wilted. The first sour Ronaldinho tired of football, neutralized tenacious and neat Bulahruz. Messi was the last to stop, once even winning the air fight against Ricardo Carvalho.
After the break, it suddenly became obvious who was playing better. Chelsea acted more correctly and attacked more dangerous. It’s great that Drogba scored beautifully, and in general it’s good that he scored. During the break, there were serious fears that they would end with zeros. And it almost certainly seemed that Drogba would be replaced after the powerful blow of Edmilson in the nose of the Ivorian. It turned out that you can’t catch such an attacker's bullshit. It also became clear that Shevchenko was still out of shape. That Ballack is ready to work for Lampard, and Robben pulls to the flank, even if you need to play in the attack. What Deco got used to drag the team on himself, but Iniesta will be able to do it soon. And finally, Gudjohnsen is too modest, and no one knows if he can strengthen the game of Saviola. Argentinean plays a little.
There is only one question left. And what will we do IF IN THE NEXT SEASON THEY DO NOT MEET ???
Vladimir STOGNIENKO