I know theres plenty of Anti English sentiment when it comes to CL in this thread but Chelsea were robbed plain & simple, 4 100% STONE COLD pens and ref gives 0 (well 1 but he got it wrong by giving it a freekick). This is exactly why so many fans in England have an anti europe view to football this was a European Cup semi final and the ref was a joke (even the red card was not a red card). Barca best attacking team in world my arse UTD will have a field day at this rate.
Hilarious scenes This is what Chelsea deserved. They made little effort to win either match, despite Barca not being all they were talked up to be, and the away goal was always a possibility. They didn't take their chances in the second half, even when Abidal was sent off, and Drogba's antics across the two legs were pathetic. Sadly, the Mancs will win in Rome without too many problems.
As much as I'm appalled by this travesty, I'm still very happy that Chelsky won't be in the final. Does this make me a bad person?
Excellent - nothing beats a last minute tie-winning goal. Ugly, shameful scenes afterwards - Chelsea terrible losers, penalties or no penalties. Although at least John Terry's tears won't be plastering the papers this year. Could be an amazing final now.
Assuming the ref is actually a ref then UTD will win 2-1 otherwise Barca will steal it and that French prick with a chip on his shoulder as my dad refers to him will be happy to see a spanish team like Barcelona win the CL because unlik English teams they don't have * DEBT * Lack of homegrown talent in there squad oh wait
Well, at least Platini got the final he wanted now. I'm no Chelsea fan, but I hate Barcelona. I think they are overrated, whining primadonnas. And "Teh best player in teh wrold!!!11" Messi has yet to impress on the big stage against opposition that actually mean something. They won this tie, but they scaracely deserved it. They lost a player to a non-existent "foul" but were very lucky that their 15 million handballs there at the end weren't called. Chelsea's reactions at the final whistle were understandable but unprofessional and out of line. The final will probably be a boring 1-0 to Man Utd.
The refereeing was just terrible - no bias from the ref, he screwed over both sides. I've haven't seen officating that horrible in some time, I have to say. The guy should probably lose his job.
Meh, Henry should have had a penalty in the first leg, and Anelka should have been booked for diving rather than Abidal getting sent off. Decisions like these are always going to happen. The bottom line is that Chelsea sat back and defended for 180 minutes rather than pressing home for the win. Barca were there for the taking, down to ten men, completely out of ideas, yet still Chelsea still showed little appetite to kill the game off. At 1-0, Barca were always still in with a chance, as Chelsea hadn't bothered to try and get an away goal of their own. Drogba was a disgrace during and after the game, yet he had the cheek to accuse the referee of cheating. If Ballack had got the ball and ran at the Barca defence with the same vigor he showed when chasing and mouthing off at the ref, they might be looking forward to a final. Their entire team (with the exception of the excellent Essien) is devoid of any sort of class, and the absurd overreactions in the aftermath of the match exposed them for what they really are.
I have no love for Chelsea. The last thing in the world I wanted to see was a repeat of last year's Final. But that refereeing was absolutely Italian.
^ Here you go. My favorite. Ballack going psycho. Here is one of Drogba. To be fair I almost felt sorry for Chelsea today.
Well terrible to say but I'm happy with the result. The last thing the competition needs is getting into a rutt where the same 2 teams battle the final out every year.
Of course the referee was an idiot and made some decisions that were clearly in Barcelona's favour, but I sooooo don't care. It was very satisfying to see Chelsea's cowardly snooze tactics get defeated. And that has nothing to do with anti-English bias, I don't care where a club's from. In fact, I'm probably even rooting for Scum United (although there are not many clubs in the world I despise more than them) in the final unless they decide to play like Chelsea.
I have no problem with last night's result. For all the conspiracy theories, why would he have sent Abidal off if that were the case, when blatantly, it wasn't even a foul, Anelka legged himself up FFS. In the end Barcelona had one shot on target and scored. Chelsea's mistake was settling for 1-0 when Abidal got sent off. Personally, I think the final will be better with Chelsea not there. I can't remember the last time we saw a decent Man Utd Vs Chelsea game. Of course the one negative of this is that Man United IMO will have an easier time of it against Barcelona than they would have against Chelsea, especially considering that Alves, Marquez and Abidal will all be out for the final.
How did Chelsea setlefor 1-0 they created several chances and 4 penalties after they scored but they weren't going to be stupid and leave holes at the back. Fans need to remember that football is about defending and attacking not just attacking though how anyone can declare Barcelona were attacking last night leaves me confused because 1 shot on goal is not attacking... All Barca did was run around for 90 minutes doing nothing while so called Chelsea bordem created about 8 chances.
Well, for starters I just saw two clear penalties - the foul in the first half where the referee gave Chelsea a free kick and the hands by Alves, everything else was debatable. Maybe if Drogba were not such a diving cunt and if some of the other Chelsea boys cared more about playing football than keeping their hair cuts pretty they could have scored a second goal instead of just destroying the game. You guys here wonder why English football has lost a lot of sympathy lately? Look at the way Chelsea "plays", look at how fucking boring intra-English games are in the EC and you have your answer.
Agreed with the first point, but not this one. The only boring intra-English games are the ones between Man United and Chelsea. Liverpool played Arsenal last year, great tie. Liverpool Vs Chelsea this year was a classic tie. Arsenal Vs Chelsea a few years ago was captivating. The annual Chelsea Vs Liverpool games are usually tight affairs but decent games. Compare and contrast those with the ultra-dull all-Italian games. Re Chelsea's sitting back; didn't they take Drogba off and replace him with Belletti? They should have kept two strikers on and pressed higher up the field. They created chances by virtue of Barcelona having to come forward. Fair play if they wanted to play that tactic, but if you're playing on the counter, your best bet is a target man, with Drogba being one of the best. Barcelona only registered one shot on target but it doesn't matter, they scored from it. Chelsea did well defensively, on the whole, last night, and had they played the last 15 minutes how they'd played the first 75, would be now in the final. The refereeing was poor, but was poor for both teams. Chelsea should have had a couple of penalties, and Barcelona should have still had 10 men on the pitch. Giving a game of that magnitude to someone who week-in, week-out, referees in the Norwegian league is a fcuking joke.
Now for something a bit different: Weirdest goal I've seen in some time ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upC-GTwoYTQ