Barcelona +0.5 at Chelsea (Wed, 2:30 ET, ESPN2)

[BB73]

The second leg of the UEFA Champions League Semifinal.

 

[BB73]

What a brutal disappointment for Chelsea. Essien scored in the 9th minute on a brilliant strike, and their fans spent the rest of the game expecting to be bookiing trips to Rome. Barca were a man down after a red card was given on a shaky call in the second half. Chelsea had several close calls for PKs that didn't go their way, and then in the 93rd minute Iniesta drilled a great shot from outside the box that Petr Cech had no chance on. Then after that Ballack stuck a ball that bounced off the back shoulder/arm of a nearby defender in the box, and he followed the ref screaming for several seconds when no call was made. Well, no call except for the yellow card he received.

1-1 aggregate, Barcelona advances since theirs was an away goal.

 

[OHSportsFan]

Shocking. What an exciting game! I was screaming when Barcelona scored. What a turnaround, in just seconds. Chelsea and their fans were already in Rome...didn't close it out. They could have done more possession, being up a man, but toyed around a little and couldn't finish.

I thought Barcelona dominated possession for the most part, though their play in the final 1/3 of the field was awful (Dani Alves could not get a good cross in to save his life...until that last one). Terrible red card put them down.

Ref was out of it after he handed out the red card. He had no clue what to call the rest of the game. Chelsea deserved a PK at least once (either the hand-ball, or the drag down), but the referee did not want to call it...likely because he had already gifted the Blues with a cheap card on Abidal (Barca).

In the end, what a strike by Iniesta. He barely got to step into the shot, but struck it well nonetheless and barried it in "the ol' onion bag."

Should be an interesting final in about 3 weeks. Man U is clearly the world's best team, but Barcelona played well even without some key players today.

 

[Merih]

How bad it must be to go home...on aggregates tied. THAT paired with the fact that the goal was in stoppage would've ripped my heart out. Man U and Barcelona in the final hunh? Firepower, much?

 

[tmporter]

How bad it must be to go home...on aggregates tied. THAT paired with the fact that the goal was in stoppage would've ripped my heart out. Man U and Barcelona in the final hunh? Firepower, much?

I would normally say Barca would be a tough task in a one game match. I never really like playing Messi, Henry, Et'o and Ineista. The only saving grace will be the absolutely horrible backline they will have to put out on the pitch. Abidal is out for his red card, alves is out for his yellow cards in both legs, Marquez is out injured. So that leaves Puyol and Pique in the middle of their defence and that leaves me with some good feelings. I don't even know who they will go with at the left and right backs. I see United retaining the CL title and the Prem. Not a bad 2 years. Take me Home United.