Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Nou Campbarca 2 - 2 chelsea
3' deco [1-0]
52' lampard [1-1]
58' gudjohnsen [2-1]
90+3' drogba [2-2]
what a 4 goal thriller. deco's 3rd min shot from distance gave barca the lead. barca kept the lead till half time. lampard's 52th min's outrageous lob from the sideline gave valdes no chance, hitting the far post and going in. it was a wonder goal after failing to control the ball in his stride initially. ronaldinho made a fool out of boulahrouz, dancing past him so easily, which he squared the ball into the six yard box in the 58th min. gudjohnsen's tap-in effort was thought to be enough to see barca through the game. however, john terry's cushion header fell to drogba, which he superbly controlled with his chest past marquez, snatching the vital equalizer and point for chelsea.
rijkaard was so pissed when he saw the 6 mins stoppage time. during drogba's stoppage time goal, mourinho celebrated as if he scored the goal, sliding across the pitch. rijkaard was the first to complain to the referee when the match ended. i would say, this was a match of wits by the 2 managers. john terry was thrown to play as centre forward, leaving a 3 man backline with essien as a right(wing)back as boulahrohz has already been taken off for joe cole as a positive change by mourinho.
it was an aggressive match, tackles flying in from everywhere. 10 yellow cards throughout the game - 4 for barca, 6 for chelsea. first sign of aggression came where drogba bumped into motta while he was recovering from a fall. players then rushed to the turf to jostle each other. ronaldinho tried to get essien into trouble where he claimed an elbow flew across gudjohnsen's face. referee couldn't control the game at all, missing the important calls. essien cleared the ball outside the chelsea penalty box, but marquez flew in with a reckless tackle. he caught essien by the groin, but the referee totally missed the red card offence. afterwhich, carvalho had a high boot, where he left his studs in deco's thighs, supposingly another red card offence.
robben missed a glorious chance where lampard made a long pass to the edge of the box. 1 on 1 the keeper and how did he manage to lift the ball above the crossbar? ballack missing a couple of chances as well, and valdes produced some impressive saves to deny robben. this game at nou camp left barca baffled. their chances of qualification is seriously damaged by the 3-0 win of bremen over levski sofia. will the european cup holders pull thru?
PAWNED @
6:10 AM
