Didier Drogba scored late in the first half
and Chelsea mixed luck with resolute defence to keep free-scoring Lionel Messi
in check and defeat holders Barcelona 1-0 in their Champions League semifinal
first leg on Wednesday.
Barcelona dominated possession, hit the bar
and the post and had what looked like a certain goal cleared off the line at a
rain-lashed Stamford Bridge.
The Spaniards had 24 attempts on target
compared to one by the hosts but Ivorian Drogba made the most of his sight of
goal when he fired low and hard past Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes two minutes
into stoppage time at the end of the first half.
"We created so many chances, I had no
idea we were going to do that, but we failed to score against a very good side
who were very strong," Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola told a news
conference.
"You have to be a strong side to be in
the semifinals of the Champions League. We knew it was going to be a tough
challenge and it was."
Frank Lampard, who like Drogba, John Terry
and Ashley Cole, have all been rejuvenated since Roberto Di Matteo took control
of the side from the sacked Andre Villas-Boas in early March, began the move
after winning the ball from a hesitant Messi close to halfway.
Lampard's raking pass found Brazilian
Ramires whose low cross from the left eluded the Barca defenders with Drogba
pouncing at the far post to score.
Di Matteo was full of praise for Chelsea's
"old guard", who followed up last weekend's 5-1 thrashing of
Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup semifinals.
"In the past a lot public opinion said
that these boys, the old guard, are over the line and too old to play two
games; they have played two games in a short period of time, and I think they
gave the answer on the pitch tonight."
However, before and after the goal, Barca
were the dominant force with Messi orchestrating most of their attacking moves,
but for all his inspired brilliance, he was unable to conjure up a goal either
for his teammates or himself. The Argentine forward, who has scored 63 goals
for Barca this season, has now failed to score in seven matches against
Chelsea.
TELLING NUMBERS Although this match was about far
more than records and statistics, some telling numbers did emerge after a rain swept
night in west London.
The defeat was only Barcelona's third loss
in 63 games this season and they have now failed to beat Chelsea in the last
six matches against them and the Londoners are now unbeaten in 14 matches, home
and away against Spanish opposition.
Those figures could all have been very
different if Barcelona had scored just once from the many chances they created.
Back in London almost 11 months after
beating Manchester United at Wembley last May to lift the European Cup, Barca
began as if they had no intention of letting Chelsea into the match at all.
Barcelona, bidding to become the first club
since AC Milan 22 years ago to lift the European Cup in successive seasons,
took a grip of the game almost from the kickoff and went close to taking the
lead after 10 minutes when Andres Iniesta's ball over the top found Alexis
Sanchez onside and in space 15 metres from goal.
His well-executed chip beat goalkeeper Petr
Cech but Chelsea escaped when the ball bounced back off the bar and was
cleared.
Chelsea made their intentions known early
on, trying to exploit a perceived weakness in the Barca defense by playing
quick balls through the middle to Drogba. He twice ran on to them but was let
down by a poor first touch both times.
But that tactic did pay dividends for the
goal – just after Barcelona had fluffed another good scoring chance four
minutes earlier when Messi went on a jinking run through the Chelsea defence
before teeing up Cesc Fabregas with a shot that looked goalbound until
Fabregas's former Arsenal teammate Ashley Cole cleared the ball off the line.
Barcelona played a longer ball game in the
second half, but still totally dominated the action with Adriano forcing Cech
into a good diving save early in the half.
They almost made all their pressure tell in
stoppage time when an angled drive from substitute Pedro hit the base of Cech's
post, and rebounded to Sergio Busquets who blasted it over the bar.
With the tie still evenly balanced ahead of
next week's second leg in Barcelona, Guardiola added: "Obviously we are
going to try and score and maybe we will have another 24 chances. But it is
difficult against a side that defends as deep as Chelsea do."
The vehicle
-- the brainchild of both Beckham and the brand's design director Gerry
McGovern -- was unveiled Sunday night in Beijing at the city's auto show after
almost two years of development by the British marque.
