PBP: UEFA CL Semifinal 2nd Leg | FC Barcelona v Chelsea FC | 24 April 2012 [R]

[LINEUP-4-3-3]Sanchez, Messi, Pedro, Iniesta, Busquets, Xavi, Puyol, Mascherano, Piqué, Alves, VV[/LINEUP-4-3-3]

I want to see these players to start and if we are not looking good going into half time I hope Pep will bring in Fabregas for Mascherano, then Cuenca needs to come in followed by Adriano/Tello/Keita.

Hope for a win and a final ticket where we can take our revenge for today.

VEB, really liked that you have Abidal's picture for this game, we need his courage for this tie.

From the Classico thread:

I think Chelsea rested 8 or 9 of their starters. Barca may tire first in this one, which would make it very tough because they do need the win.

A cone as goalkeeper?

I'm afraid that my prediction of our season coming tumbling down in the space of one week might become a reality. Looks like the boys chose a bad time to find themselves in a dip of form.

nah, cause when they scored once you're out

Defending has been a problem for Barca in the second half of this season... even when the win the game it was like 2-1 , 5-3. Not a good thing when sometimes you only grab one goal

Yes, but I'm speaking from Barca current defensive form point of view. They conceided not only against Chelsea and Madrid but against mid table team in la liga with 2-1 or 5-3 scoreline.

If Barca finishing touch is back then I'm not too worry, they have plenty of clear chances against Chelsea and Madrid but they didnt take it. SO its not like they're actually having trouble unlocking opponent defense.

I'd rather see Sanchez starting cause Tello is still too green for a big game... making same stupid mistake again and again.

If they're at least 1 goal up in first half then I could see them winning
Otherwise, prepare for frustating dive, fight, time wasting and all the drama in second half.

Why would Chelsea rest all of their players against Arsenal this weekend? They are chasing a CL spot, which is very important financially and for their prestige. It seems like they are putting all their eggs in one basket - win the CL and automatic qualification for next year. The odds of winning the CL are not that favorable at this point - get past Barcelona and then get past LPB/Bayern, neither of whom they'll be favored against. And now they are 4 points back for fourth in the PL. Bold move. Let's hope it blows up in their faces Tuesday!

I think that may have come right from their owner Roman Abramovich, supposedly he wants to win the CL above all else. IF they make it to the final, a single game, anything can happen. His team has won every other trophy on offer in England at least once or several times since he took over, but despite making something like 6 CL semifinals they've only advanced to the finals once, losing on PKs to ManU.

Clearly this is the crown jewel they (he) want more than anything else. They also knew we needed to beat Real to have any chance of winning La Liga. With the advantage of hindsight it might have been better had the Real-Barca gap not shrunk from 10 to 8 to 6 to 4, that compelled us to play for the win. So it was a bit surprising but they also have a deeper squad and less injury woes than Barca this season, so good for them. Even had they lost to Arsenal it might have been a risk worth taking, that they managed the away draw while Tottenham lost means they still have a great shot (they host Newcastle (4th) who have a really hard final 4 games, Tottenham (5th) have it easier but are only 1 point ahead of Chelsea (6th))

I think that at home we'll create even more chances, we'll finish chances, Messi will score a goal, as will another Barca player; if we can keep a clean sheet that will be enough. If we cannot we need to win by 2; tougher assignment.

It can still be a great season - 5 of 6 trophies are still in play (and 3 are already in the bag), losing la liga at home to Real was tough, and we don't look to be at our very best. But if we advance to the CL final, especially if we win it than we will have done what no other team has done before. CdR win for even just a 4th trophy (or better a 5th) another reason we do not need to hang our heads. And we lost with grace.

Perhaps a surprising choice appointed by UEFA for this game:

Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)



35 years old, his CV is not much considering this is a CL semifinal. He's never had a CL quarterfinal but he did have a Europa League semifinal two years ago (Fulham v Hamburg).
However, he is one of the 12 referees who will be in service at EURO 2012. So he is highly regarded by UEFA.


List of UEFA matches from this season (no red cards issued):
Champions, Matchday 1: Villarreal 0-2 Bayern Munich (3 bookings)
Champions, Matchday 3: Real Madrid 4-0 Olympique Lyon (4)
Champions, Matchday 5: Manchester United 2-2 Benfica (5)
Europa, 2ndR1stL: FC Porto 1-2 Manchester City (8)
Champions, 2ndR,1stL: Olympique Marseille 1-0 Inter Milan (4)
Europa, 3rdR,2ndL: Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Manchester United (3)


Last season in the CL he only did three matches, including one each of Barcelona and Chelsea (again, no expulsions):
Champions, Matchday 2: Rubin Kazan 1-1 FC Barcelona (5)
Champions, Matchday 4: Chelsea 4-1 Spartak Moskva (3)
Champions, Matchday 6: Werder Bremen 3-0 Inter Milan (1)

Not sure why it matters who Chelsea rested or didn't, the team is inferior on paper. If Barca play their game and finish, none of this bantering about the line-up against Arsenal is relevant.

The only way Chelsea go through is prevent Barca scoring opportunities and not concede a goal, otherwise the conversation Wednesday morning is far different. Chelsea is a team of pretenders, on a hot streak, compared the other parts of their season.

If Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and Alexis have solid games there is nothing to worry about.

^ defs need to play their A-game as well. Never easy scoring 3 against a team who parks the bus well.

One factor is that their current coach very may well not be there next year, so he is focusing on the present and not the future.

The whole resting notion seems odd, especially since they are sitting in sixth and within reasonable distance to a Champions League place, which is a necessity for a "world class" team like Chelsea or Tottenham.

Irregardless, Chelsea could have not played a game this past weekend, they still need a bit of luck not to concede on Tuesday. Keeping the aging elders like Terry, Lampart, Drogba and Cole fresh shouldn't make a difference since they are all clearly past their primes.

We were saying this last week before the first leg. These old timers are motivated, we shouldn't underestimate them.

That said, it usually doesn't deserve attention, but we should note how the weather has played a part in the last 2 games: it started pouring rain in each match. For a team like ours that lives on passing passing passing, the soggy conditions slow us down, and more importantly, let the other team keep up with the ball better. Our tiki-taka is most effective when we release the pass just micro-seconds before a tackler can get there. If the ball is slow to arrive at our feet because of tall grass or heavy rain, it takes us a bit out of our fine-tuned comfort zone.

The good news: forecast for Barcelona Tuesday is 62 degrees high with 10% chance of rain, which is also what chance I give Chelsea of advancing.

I read that Drogba trained today. Expect to see him play Tuesday.

I got a feeling that even if Chelsea through, he's going to miss the final

Drogba will play tomorrow, don't worry about that. And he will spend 89 minutes rolling around as if he has been shot, lets hope that in the other minute he doesn't score.

This is it now, one big effort, one big performance is needed. And everyone needs to put in a performance, lets not do the sit back and wait for Messi to get us through, Iniesta, Xavi, Sanchez all need to show up. We also need to start positvely, at a fast tempo, come on Messi a hattrick tomorrow and you can put you feet up for a few weeks.

For real. Truth is there is only 90mins - 180 mins left of the season, they gotta treat it like that (not including potential overtime).

Three matches left this season: this, the Copa final and the CL final. No room for error in any of them.

Easy to believe the team to be hungry for a CL final spot, especially after the hurtful loss in el Clasico.