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Barca escapes Hiddink’s gridlock

May 6th, 2009 | By: Jan | 24 Comments »

Barca didn’t have any trouble scoring against Olympique Lyon, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid but Guus Hiddink’s tactics kept the Barcelona football machine at bay for 180 minutes of football. But as our neighbors on the eastern border know, football is played till the very last minute.

The scenario unfolded brightly for Chelsea. The 0-0 in Camp Nou could be called miraculous. An ever attacking Barca was kept at 0-0. At Stamford Bridge, the eleven strong and focused Chelsea players did it again. Attacking with eleven when possible, defending with eleven when needed. And Hiddink’s luck brought Chelsea a quick goal on top. A rare pressure play by Chelsea resulted in a loose ball finding Essien’s left. The Chelsea midfielder was out of balance when he hit the ball and he’ll never repeat this feat, even if he trains on it 8 hours a day. For 8 years. But what a goal!

Barca had trouble finding their rhythm in the trenches. 70+% possession doesn’t mean a thing in football. Eto’o was invisible, Henry look a like Keita couldn’t create anything. Dani Alves played the worst game of his career and Messi, Xavi and Iniesta tried hard but couldn’t find an opening. In 90 minutes of football, Barca created zero chances. Zero. Zilch. Naught. Nothing.

Chelsea on the other hand had it’s moments. A Terry header, a Drogba 100% golden chance (stopped by Barca’s man of the match Valdez) and a couple of penalty-ready fouls (hands twice and a wrestle match in the box between Malouda and Alves). But the Norwegian ref didn’t want to play ball and it was in the 93rd minute, when Essien missed the power to clear a ball. A number of Chelsea players had their heads in the sauna already and Messi was able to pick out Andres Iniesta who sweetly curved the ball in the upper corner with the outside right. By then, Barca played with ten men, due to a silly red card for Eric Abidal. Chelsea wasn’t able to finish it and the saying: “Barca will always create a chance” was justified, albeit very very late in the game.

It’s Manchester United – Barcelona in Rome.

More to come laters…

Tags: Abidal, Barcelona, Chelsea, Drogba, Essien, Group C, Hiddink, Iniesta, Lampard, Messi, Terry

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Comments

By Mario | May 6th, 2009 at 4:36 pm

Well, honestly I don´t think Barcelona deserve to be in the final after watching this game but in football you don´t deserve anything so if they are in the final it is because Chelsea didn´t kill the game when they were able to do so. They had 11 players vs 11 of Barcelona and it surprised that the tactics never changed. With Barcelona you can´t make mistakes and Essien failed to clear the ball and the ball fell to Messi who saw Iniesta and the rest is history.

Like Jan says, Barcelona couldn´t create a single chance in this second game but football has these things. I also think that the referee had very difficult decisions because Barcelona played very bad at the back and some tackles and hands in the area were hard to see at first but in the highlights it is clearer that Barcelona at least committed a clear penalty. Hiddink is a great master and he should stay at Chelsea. In that team he can win titles,with Russia he can surprise a few national teams (Holland), but other than that he would never win anything with that team.

Congratulations to Barcelona, hopefully they will win but Manchester is an extremely talented and difficult team to play against. Let´s rock and roll!

By Michel-Olivier | May 6th, 2009 at 5:15 pm

i can’t see pep team beating man united fantastic four(rooney, tevez, ronaldo, and berbatov).

Posted from United States

By ferenc | May 6th, 2009 at 6:24 pm

i’m very happy. we were bad but we fought,we fought after the very end. drogba always wanted penalty. what an actor – even robben should take some lessons from him about antics. the red card was harsh. and i underline again: we were bad. in rome – with henry and puyol back and without abidal and alves – it will be a different barca. yaya toure,pique,valdes and iniesta were sensational.

our guus is still the man of the semi-finals (c) tju:-)

chelsea should lament about their catenaccio in barcelona. i think no more samuel eto’o is my fav player,but obviously anders iniesta.

Carlos: even my mom was in extase after iniesta’s shot:-)))

Posted from Hungary

By Jan | May 6th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

Personally, I feel football has won. Albeit with some luck .

Barca always wanted to play football. Chelsea played very defensively in Spain and with 1-0 on the board after ten minutes this time around, they couldn’t get a clear lead afterwards. Even with Abidal sent off, Chelsea only created one real chance (the Drogba one). The goal Essien scored – it was a thing of beauty – was not a real chance in my book. Just an opportunistic attempt that paid dividends.

Amazing how this whole game basically saw one real chance and some lame attempts. Iniesta’s goal was a decent shooting opportunity but other than that both teams didn’t create a lot. In particular Barca was shockingly inable to create opportunities. I never saw Dani Alves play such a horrible game. All his crosses were wasted. Xavi’s corner kicks were below par and Alves’ free kicks were not in the same league as – say – Sneijder, Van Persie or C Ronaldo.

Barca needs to learn from this fast, otherwise Man United is having tapas for dinner!

By sonneveld | May 6th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7rTYi45SGU&feature=channel_page

a video i created about peter crouch, he is not dutch but you still may be interested

By Carlos | May 6th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

Marco v Basten quit as Ajax trainer. Great Footballer – perhaps not so great coach.

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | May 6th, 2009 at 7:56 pm

Actually watching the game saw basically the same thing. A lot of passing and clickety clicks by Barca and a lot of acting near the penalty box by Chelsea. However Chelsea did play a little more football but lost possession VERY quickly. Cruyff actually nominated Iniesta as the best footballer last year because of his “unselfish” football. Correct me if I am wrong but didn’t van Gaal bring in Xavi and Iniesta from the youth ranks? ManU v Barcelona will be a treat if they play their normal game.

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | May 6th, 2009 at 9:21 pm

Yep Carlos… Xavi and Iniesta were “brought” by Van Gaal, but he didn’t develop them at the youth system. Any coach would have seen that these two can play ball nicely. But yeah, they made their debuts under Louis.

I agree with JC, I think Iniesta is in the top 10 of best players. After the CL finals we’ll do some interesting star-team kind of polls…

By Carlos | May 6th, 2009 at 9:41 pm

Isn’t it interesting that the 3 Gods of my days – Gullit, Marco and Rijkaard all failed in the Eredivisie as coaches ?

Posted from Singapore

By Mario | May 6th, 2009 at 10:03 pm

Carlos, and Puyol and Valdez made their debuts under van Gaal also. played other young lads but just Valdez, Puyol, Xavi and Iniesta made it. By the way, I can´t understand how Barca´s youth system let Piqué go to Man U and how Ferguson never gave him a real chance. Piqué is an excellent defender, great in the air and with great technique. This is one of Guardiola´s best discoveries such as Busquets. But the core of the team has been playing together for years and hopefully they can show their value in the final. I will cheer for Barcelona, I hate Ferguson and Cristiano Ronaldo.

By Tiju | May 6th, 2009 at 11:17 pm

The-X Factor hiddink cannt go beyond semifinals in big tournies.thats why inesta scored in 93 minute.
Barca never created a real chance in whole 96 minutes but i am happy that they won the game.Once again GUUS showed “what a tactician he is “.Chelsea were lethal in counters thats it from my veiw and they used their physical strength always and they won in that.Drogba had only two chance actually but he failed thats natural but where is others.????
i think drogba and lampard and ballack can play as central back position after some time.

Posted from India

By Tiju | May 6th, 2009 at 11:18 pm

B/W dani alves is total waste in crossess.(i think this is often with him)

Posted from India

By Mario | May 6th, 2009 at 11:40 pm

Well, Hiddink won the Uefa Champions League with PSV Eindhoven, although it was long time ago, I think that it was in 1988 if I remember well.

By Miguel Rosado | May 6th, 2009 at 11:55 pm

What a game!!!.

Now it’s Messi vs Ronaldo. I go for Messi.

By Jan | May 7th, 2009 at 1:33 am

Right Mario: 1988…

He will win the FA Cup too, I guess.

By Jan | May 7th, 2009 at 7:30 am

I was disappointed reading Hiddink’s comments. Chelsea feels the UEFA wanted Barca to win to avoid another all English finals. I think that’s bull! The ref sent a Barca player off for a silly collision! A ref who was instructed to protect Barca wouldn’t. I think Chelsea was unlucky. They could have gotten a penalty. But at the same time, they missed their chances and decided to sub a striker (Drogba) for a midfielder (Beletti). They didn’t go for the kill and with a 1-0 on the board, that’s dangerous… Hiddink gambled and lost.

By Jan | May 7th, 2009 at 8:12 am

I read in some comments that punters believe Chelsea deserved it.

I don’t agree and can’t see those viewpoints.

In Barcelona, Chelsea came to disrupt Barca’s game. They didn’t come to create anything. They played catenaccio. Period. And Henry should have gotten a penalty for the shirt pulling in the box. Barca couldn’t break Chelsea down but at least they tried.

In Stamford Bridge, again Chelsea allowed Barca possession. The 1-0 still wasn’t enough for Hiddink to go out for seconds. He again absorbed the attacking of Barca and was more than happy to play reactive football.
Even with one man more for 25 odd minutes, Hiddink subbed a striker for a midfielder, seeking to secure the meagre lead.

Barca didn’t play great in London but they went for it, worked hard and always looked to attack. They were awarded in the 93rd minute and despite some bad calls by the ref, he could have given a penalty for the Piquee hand ball for sure, but as said: Henry deserved one too a week ago.

The other big mistake the ref made was Abidal’s red card. All the other calls were questionable. The Malouda pull happened when he was outside the box. The hand ball – alleged – in the last minute (with Ballack throwing a tantrum and threatening to piggy back that bald ref ) ) was questionable as well. He protected his face, which was turned away from the ball and the ball partly hit his side and his upperarm/shoulder.

Drogba had three opps to score: the free kick blocked by Valdez, the ball he mishandled at the second touch in the 22nd minute and the 52nd minute opportunity. The last one should have been sinked into the net. Two goal corners unprotected and he goes through the middle.

Drogba can only blame himself.

By finnster01 | May 7th, 2009 at 9:24 am

Can anyone recommend a good GPS system?

Mine is broken, I typed in Chelsea and it said it was only 2 mins from Rome

By Caleb | May 7th, 2009 at 10:17 am

lol finnster

Posted from Canada

By ferenc | May 7th, 2009 at 12:32 pm

a very good article on hiddink’s hypocrisy

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2009/05/07/1251450/cl-special-there-is-no-barcelona-chelsea-conspiracy-guus-hiddinks

true,it’s totally ridiculous when the 2002 south corea coach suggests conspiracy against his team. shame on you guus! traitor!

Posted from Hungary

By Jan | May 7th, 2009 at 5:09 pm

Good one Finn

By Jan | May 7th, 2009 at 5:13 pm

Netherlands

Barca escapes Hiddink’s gridlock

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