Barcelona 0-0 Chelsea: Frustration

They must be frustrated. They must be really frustrated.

I heard the commentator said the last time Barcelona failed to score at home was when they drew 0-0 against Manchester United. Guess what, a year later - on the exact same fixture, Champions League semifinal first leg - another English team got a clean sheet at Camp Nou.

Well, Liverpool did not manage a clean sheet there, but their approach were very similiar to their two English compatriots: defensive. I almost had a thought before the match, Barca might have 70% possession, stringing passes around the penalty box but no penetration. They did that against United last season - both home and away - and it showed how they lacked the creativity to score against the most stubborn of English defenses.

Time has changed, and so does the manager. They scored 140 goals in all competitions under him, dispatching record-breaking Bayern (that got Klinsmann sacked just a few hours ago) with some ease. With them possessing talents such as Henry, (who already outdone his tally of last season but still trails behind) Eto'o and Messi, nobody is willing to bet against them scoring.

But Chelsea parked some bus there. No offense, it will be described as a heroic effort by many after this I'm sure, it was an incredible defensive performance. One can see how quickly they got back on their foot to make sure whenever some stray balls got beyond their fullbacks, their centrehalves and defensive midfielders are there to cover.

However, on a neutral side, I won't like to see the defensive team win, and besides that, they also did it quite ugly, too. They had several bookings, and the referee tried his very best not to send off anyone (Ballack might deserve a second yellow, and probably even Puyol, too). Barca certainly deserved a penalty, the tug by Ashley Cole on his former teammate Henry was blatant, and wow it was frustrating he got away with that.

And Drogba, man, this guy really test people's nerves. He's a good player, and good is probably an understatement, but I'm just describing that technically. Professionally, he's horrible. Whenever he cried in agony, there's very little credibility. I remembered during the quarterfinals second leg he got in pain but played continued because he was outside the field, but he wanted both teams to stop playing so he rolled back onto the pitch. I resisted to mention it the last time but I couldn't this time. And he made some off-ball tackles if I'm not mistaken.

Why can't he be more like Lampard? I like that fella a lot, except for the fact that he scored two to knockout Liverpool. Amazingly, he was taken off quite early. The commentators mentioned it was very unusual that Lampard was taken off that early unless he had an injury. Well, did he ever even got injured? He once held the record for consecutive league appearances and he contributed that to his ability to stay off injury.

In the end, there were a few chances, but both goalkeepers did very well. Goalless draw might seem favourable to the away team for the second leg (well, at least to me), because a scoring draw will get them through, and every away goal they score is a mountain for the home side (needing to equalize and then lead), but history might suggest otherwise. Home advantage is still an advantage, and as United showed (and even Liverpool with that Garcia goal that every Chelsea fan still hates) one goal might just be enough to get the team through.

They say the home team do the attacking, so it might just leave some gaping holes for Barca to exploit. Well, who knows? Barca 'enjoyed' two-thirds of possession on both turfs, and couldn't find the net. I reckon it might be another goalless draw, and a penalty shootout. I reckon the FA Cup final is a goalless draw, too. I hope they'll prove me wrong.