The Chelsea Debacle

I was riled a lot yesterday night.Mostly because of some of the most abject refreeing i have ever seen and partly because Chelsea dint show a lot of brains yesterday.Barca had trounced Madrid three days back and i wanted some blood to be spilt.Chelsea began decently,Essien scoring with a tremendous volley to give Chelsea the advatnage.After that Chelsea predictably went to a counter attack mode.Drogba had atleast three oppurtunities to kill the game off but dint.Two clear cut penalties-the body check on Malouda and the Abidal shirt pull/Kick incident were denied to Chelsea.Abidal should have been sent off for this challenge but wasnt.

Story was the same in the second half,Chelsea sitting back to counter attack and Barcelona hardly mustered a decent shot.Messi was completely anonymous and so was Eto.Alves looked like a joke all night running around like a headless chicken and couldnt get one decent cross in.Iniesta was the only one who looked capable of anything.

Meanwhile Chelsea wasted some more oppurtunities to kill the match off and then Abidal was then sent off for a rather lame dive by Anelka,who i thought should have taken the chance to score.But Chelsea still choose to sit back against 10 men and allowed Barcelona to come at them.A Pique handball that happened 5 yards from the ref was also waved off.By now i was really afraid that Barca were going to convert one of their raids into a goal with so many penalties being waved off.Another chance fell to Belleti and he dutifully smashed it wide.Pique started to make runs into the chelsea half regularly!!!! and one such fell to Xavi,the ball was cleared by terry but essien made a hash of the clearance.Messi then picked out iniesta who broke the hearts of Chelsea fan.Chelsea were freaking pissed now and they threw themselves at the other end.A Ballack shot seemed to hit Eto on the hand and in my opinion his hand was clearly raised and must have been a penalty but again it was waved off.

After the whistle almost all Chelsea players barracked the ref but things got ugly when Drogba got involved.He did some Rama Rama Karam Podu dances around the ref and publically denounced him to be a fucking disgrace.The Ref meanwhile did what anyone would do facing a mad bull - run for your life.Drogba wasnt satisfied and continued to barrack him into the tunnel.Terry,Hiddink and Malouda tried to stop him but to no avail.

Barca for all their fabled talent mustered two shots on goal over two legs and were proved to be despicable hypocrites.All their cries of ref bias in the previous leg[which i dont completely agree with] probably influenced the ref today.The ref was some unknown from Norway so claims of a Platini interest in the match might not be completely ruled out.

As for the purist argument,Barca was shit today and dint show anything that proved them better footballers than Chelsea who had a gameplan and sticked to it.They wanted to win the match and no one can blame them for their gameplan.If Barca are so good as is claimed they should have proved it tonight,but they did not so i dont understand how they "deserve" more.I cant believe how much luck goes the Barca way,they won in 2006 by pure luck and now another oppurtunity obtained by luck and Pep had the temerity to speak of honesty.

THE EPIC

To start with this was one of the best matches i've ever seen.Both teams gave it their all over the two legs.I was annoyed and feeling helpless when the teams were announced,no StevieG no Riera no Babel and Lucas!!! as the man in the hole.I dunno what Rafa was smoking when he decided to play Lucas behind Torres but I'd like some of that.OK i started watching the match resignedly,but Chelsea true to Hiddink's pre-match comments they will try and soak up the pressure were sitting back and inviting Liverpool to attack.

In the first 15-20 mins liverpool took total control of the midfield and the match was mostly played in the chelsea half,drogba was totally isolated and i was ecstatic.A brilliant goal from Aurelio and my hopes went up.Xabi took the advantage of some stupidity from Ivanovic and got a penalty and scored it too.Chelsea were in tatters now and Liverpool were raking up chances.We should've scored just before halftime but somehow the ball did not go in.

Ok 45 mins to go and one goal to get,I was very hopeful.But i was a bit apprehensive about Hiddink's team talk as last week too Chelsea were unstoppable in the second half so i was waiting with fingers crossed.Second half starts,Kuyt almost scores.Same story for the first three four mins.Then anelka is allowed to run easily through down the flanks and put a good ball in.Drogba gets a touch,overpowering carragher and reina messes it up.1-2.Shit ok one more goal we get extra time.But Skrtel gives away a dangerous free kick and Alex smashes it.Carvalho had blocked the wall away and ducked in time for the shot.Lucas[bastard!!!] moved away from the ball and reina could do nothing but pick the ball from the net.2-2.Now two goals needed in another 35 odd mins.Kuyt's goalbound header somehow clawed away by Cech.Tension mounts.The match was wide open now,with both teams throwing men forward.Ballack misses a good chance in the other end made by a Drogba playing supremely well.

Abramovich wanted entertainment dint he,it was being dished out in bucketfulls here.Ballack wins the ball,puts Drogba through with a superb ball.Drogba shields its superbly and lays it off for Fat Frank who toe pokes it inside.3-2 match over screams the commentator.Chelsea fans and Rafa[??????] agree.Torres off.Mash off.Ngog and Riera on. Chelsea sit back again.Lucas tries his luck and oh my god it goes inside off a massive deflection off essien.3-3.Some hope.After two min Riera plays nicely down the left flank and picks out Kuyt with a good ball.Powerful header 3-4.10 mins to go one goal to get.I cant believe it.Overjoyed.Delirious.Any semblence of order is thrown to the winds.Everyone attacks.Superb tackle by Skrtel to prevent Malouda from scoring.This guy is sensational under Hiddink.Power pace where the hell was he these last 20 months.Anyways resulting corner lucas gets the ball,foul on him by Malouda ref no go,ball falls to alonso he gives it to ballack who passes it to anelka to lampard GOAL.4-4.Huge mistake by ref and alonso and lucas not tracking frank.

2 mins later Ngog smashes the ball,essien somehow clears it off the line.3 mins added time.Cant understand how 6 goals can be scored but only 3 mins given.Plays out match over.4-4 second leg.7-5 win for Chelsea overall.Superb match.120/100 for all the liverpool players given they were playing 10 on 11[i am sick and tired of lucas].Not so for Rafa,who first made the mistake of playing an half fit StevieG in the first leg.Then leaves him out today.For once i agree with those jokers on at Ten Sports.Even if Stevie was half hit today,I would have thrown him on for the last thirty mins or so.Or atleast made him play the first half.Given how Chelsea were in the first half god knows what could've happened if Stevie was on. Also the formation for this match,Yossi on the left Kuyt right and Lucas in the hole.Imagine how it would have been with Kuyt upfront with Torres Babel/Riera left and Yossi on the right.Sometimes this guy seems a genius and sometimes a fool.

Also the way Drogba behaved was really disgraceful.Moaning,whining throughout the match.And the way he rolled back onto the pitch to stop the play was disgusting.Agreed he was superb in the second half but this kind of behaviour is not what a fan would want.And Chelsea fans man those jokers.Booing your team at half time, fair weather fans all of them.

But i am incredibly proud to support this team.The way they fought was unbelivable and those families who suffered unconsolable loss twenty years ago,we showed how much we respect your loss.We proved once again that if you are a Red Scouser you never will walk alone.