UEFA Champions League Roundup - Chelsea Upset Barcelona; Bayern Pip Madrid
Barcelona had 70% of the possessions for the entire game and had 19 shots in total. But Chelsea's resolute defending, along with the heavy rain, played an important part in slowing down Barcelona's game for a large interval, and eventually, leaving them goalless at Stamford Bridge.
Barcelona had plenty of important chances in the first half, as Alexis Sanchez had an early attempt denied by the woodwork, as he successfully lobbed Petr Cech after collecting a brilliant long pass from Andres Iniesta.
In the 43rd minute, Cesc Fabregas attempted to dink his shot over Petr Cech, only to see his former Arsenal team-mate Ashley Cole clear the ball just off the line.
Late in the first half, Drogba made no mistakes to put Chelsea one up, as Ramires put in a low cross after making a run from the middle, as Lampard stole the ball from Lionel Messi in the midfield.
Messi had a quiet game after being man marked by as many as four players at times, and as mentioned earlier, Messi struggled to play with pace as the weather worked in Chelsea's favor.
Messi also did slip, and fell awkwardly early on in the game, but decided to play out the full 90 minutes, and this could have been another reason for his quiet performance for the Catalans.
While Chelsea came off with a great result at home, there is a lot of work to be done, as playing at the Camp Nou is no easy task. Barcelona are unbeaten at home in all competitions this season, and their last loss at home in the Champions League was a freak defeat in the group stages back in 2009 against Rubin Kazan. Barcelona went on to lose out to eventual champions, Mourinho's Inter Milan, in the semifinals that year, and even Inter Milan lost at the Nou Camp that year.
Mourinho, now at Real Madrid, had a different task at hand as Los Blancos travelled to Munich for the first leg of their semi-final against Bayern Munich. Madrid and Barcelona were favorites to progress before kickoff, but Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo both stated beforethe game that they did not underestimate Bayern's strength.
Bayern have the chance to play a Champions League final at home, as the final will be held at the Allianz Arena in Munich on May 19.
And they gave themselves every chance of making it to the final, after narrowly defeating Real Madrid 2-1 at home on Tuesday.
Ribery's close-range goal in the 17th minute gave the Bavarians the lead, and while Madrid pulled back through their German International Mesut Özil early in the second half, Mario Gomez scored a late winner in the 90th minute to give Bayern a one-goal advantage to take to the Bernabeu.
Madrid however, are far from out of this tie, as the one away goal scored through Özil means that just a 1-0 victory at home would suffice for them to qualify for the Champions League final through the away goal rule - this means that Bayern would have to score one goal at the very least to be assured of their chances of going through.
The 2nd legs of both ties will be played out on April 24 and 25, as Barcelona take on Chelsea at the Camp Nou on Tuesday, and Real Madrid play Bayern Munich at the Bernabéu on Wednesday.
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