Discuss the upcoming semi-final tie between FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC

I don't dare predict formations anymore.
Pep always :vagi: me

I have zero fear, zero...which makes me uncomfortable.

But I have watched them the entire season and they deserve to be in 5th place..not just because of performance, but they actually lack talent.

They wasnt better than Benfica at all.

The one thing I really want to say is, the amount of times Aimar got in between the lines vs Mikel and Lamps was amazing...Messi would of had his best game ever if he was there lol

I dont want to sound arrogant, but I cant fathom any possible situation in which they win.

As for line ups and so on.

Ivanovic is scared of coming out from rightback, he allowed Gaitain all the time in the world to pick up the ball and then get a full head of steam to run at him. I am not sure what that means for us, but I wouldnt imagine it something to look at .

Ivan---Terry-----Luiz------Cole
---Mires--Obi---Essien--------
--------Mata(Free Role)--------
------Drogba----Torres---------

The Plane

Yeah, I could see something like that (though Kalou instead of one of the strikers because of his ability to move out wide) and it probably would be the sort of line up that causes us the most difficulty.

Then again, maybe they wouldnt want to be so submissive and play their usual 4231..that would be stupid though lol

Just a quick history, these were the squads last time the two teams met 3 years ago:

Starting: Valdes, Dani Alves, Toure Yaya, Pique, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Keita, Messi, Eto'o, Iniesta

Starting: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Anelka, Drogba, Malouda.

Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Mikel, Kalou

Impressing. Both teams have pretty much kept the majority of their starting line-up.

Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro/Cuenca, Alexis.

Čech, Bosingwa/Ivanović , Luiz, Terry, Cole, Essien/Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Kalou, Torres, Mata

Mata's a good crosser and Torres....well...lets just say the way he plays.....he can do whatever Kalou can do at the moment.

I want him there to fight for crosses and run at whoever's on the left.

Pretty sure Di Matteo will play a similar line-up to the one against Manchester City so I'll have to disagree with Le Samourai. There is no way Chelsea are going to play Drogba and Torres together. Perhaps take a striker to bring a midfielder in.

Barcelona will be favourites to go through, but you never know. Chelsea have enough in them to get passed blaugrana if they catch them on a bad day. What has been really lacking in Chelsea is their midfield which virtually has no creativity (apart from some sparks of genius from Mata) and their defence which has been nowhere as solid as they were a couple of years ago. And generally not as physical.

danyjr wrote:Just a quick history, these were the squads last time the two teams met 3 years ago:

Starting: Valdes, Dani Alves, Toure Yaya, Pique, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Keita, Messi, Eto'o, Iniesta

Starting: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Anelka, Drogba, Malouda.

Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Mikel, Kalou

Impressing. Both teams have pretty much kept the majority of their starting line-up.

Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Puyol, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro/Cuenca, Alexis.

Čech, Bosingwa/Ivanović , Luiz, Terry, Cole, Essien/Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Kalou, Torres, Mata

Biggest difference here is nearly all those Chelsea players have declined since then while ours are better or roughly as good.

The Franchise wrote:I have zero fear, zero...which makes me uncomfortable.

But I have watched them the entire season and they deserve to be in 5th place..not just because of performance, but they actually lack talent.

Disagree they deserve to be 6th

Personally i think Barca will go through but it wont be as easy as the teams on paper suggest it could be, they will park the proverbial plane across the pitch and make it as difficult as possible.

Barca will get through, they might even win both legs but it wont be an embarrassing scoreline for Chelsea.

Would have been a tight game years ago, but right now I can't see Chelsea winning.

They can probably still park the bus well, but when your strikers consist of Torres and an ageing Drogba, goals will be hard to come.

You shut down Mata, you shut down most of the Chelsea attack.

Sushi Master wrote:Would have been a tight game years ago, but right now I can't see Chelsea winning.

They can probably still park the bus well, but when your strikers consist of Torres and an ageing Drogba, goals will be hard to come.

You shut down Mata, you shut down most of the Chelsea attack.

Yup.

Where is the first leg played?

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Where is the first leg played?

Stamford Bridge.

I think Mata might struggle, especially if they play 4231.

The wide players, Kalou/Malouda and Ramieres will be dragged down the pitch chasing Dani Alves and Adriano, it happened even against Benfica let aone us.

This leaves Mata the closest player to Torres.

Busquets is the master of shutting out players of his kind when they get isolated from the wide players (see Snijeder and Ozil for Holland and Madrid) and only have 1 target. Especially if we are pressing like we did Milan 2nd leg.

I am actually afraid of Torres. I know that he is playing bad atm, atleast goalscoring wise, but Torres really does know how to play against Barca

The Franchise wrote:I think Mata might struggle, especially if they play 4231.

The wide players, Kalou/Malouda and Ramieres will be dragged down the pitch chasing Dani Alves and Adriano, it happened even against Benfica let aone us.

This leaves Mata the closest player to Torres.

Busquets is the master of shutting out players of his kind when they get isolated from the wide players (see Snijeder and Ozil for Holland and Madrid) and only have 1 target. Especially if we are pressing like we did Milan 2nd leg.

Yup, that's why I'm leaving him isolated on an Island out there.I trust him to pick his spots move to the points of most vulnerability and exploit those points.I don't see the point of the other 2 players in the 4-2-3-1 because one of them is Ramires and the other occupies space without generating anything.

If you're going to have 30 % posession I want the player most likely to generate something to have the ball, so that means , Ramires and Malouda not having it.

Will anyone other than Busquets and either Full back press Mata?

Naah, this Torres is not the Torres of Atlético or Liverpool and this Barcelona isn't the same Barcelona that used to get destroyed by him.

Hopefully I'll get to go to Stamford Bridge and Camp Nou to watch these matches. Already got my Clásico tickets and Chelsea match is only 3 days later. That is IF I can get tickets. Hate me while you can

Chelsea have little chance vs us, but we still need to be careful.

I think their defense isnt one of the best, although Luiz is doing very well atm.

They will need to play like 3 DMs I feel to try and stop us, Meireles, Rameires, Lampard probably and the front 3 at home, and probably add Mikel in there away and just front 2

I dont worry about their attacj too much cos they dont really have any good counter attack, maybe Drogba holidng play up and playing it onto a quick support running when countering, or if Torres plays his pace, but I think both is difficult for them to pull off, and reliant on Mata who is Barca player's little brother and big brothers beats up little brothers

If we play to our best which we are atm, we should outclass them quite easily

This is probably the weakest Chelsea team we have faced. They are just a weird mix of players, old, slow, fast, cant finish, out of position type of players.

They are going to get tired chasing the ball, and will likely ever touch it. I have always been nervous of facing Chelsea, but not this time

Le Samourai wrote:Will anyone other than Busquets and either Full back press Mata?

If I understand your question how I think, then no rarely.

I've never felt so comfortable about a UCL Semifinal

I don't know, it just seems like they can't really match us on any front, and with our style and their age, they'll be chasing shadows all day. The only player I really have any nervousness about is Mata.

I think Barca will have a field day tbh. And I hate being this confident, but i am lol

Why did Chelsea sell Alex? I mean, he is a much better defender than Luiz for sure and doesn't lose the concentration that Luiz does. Caahil for me was a great defender but he isn't great with Luiz in the defense. Di Matteo has to play another defender instead of Luiz. I do fear for Chelsea as when Luiz loses concentration and tries to do too much with the ball as he did sometimes against Benfica, Messi and crew (especially if Tello or Afellay come on) will blitz through and create chances that may turn out to be goals. Luiz needs to improve otherwise he will cost his team goals. Terry is ageing and cannot always be relied on so the younger ones need to step up. Ivanovic in the middle wouldn't be too bad with Bosnigwa on that right flank though its all up to the mind of Di Matteo.
Mata is really the only player in that Chelsea team that is a worry (pretty clear) and if Busi and co can shut him down than there really shouldn't be a great threat as Drogba is slow and well the rest arent that too flash (cough, cough Torres). Im happy we play Chelsea intead of Bayern or Madrid.
Btw, do Madrid play home first because their 7th in rankings and Bayern are 4th?

Drogba better dont come to camp nou

Have you seen Luiz since Di Matteo? Alex and Cahill are nothing compared to this Luiz lol

And I wouldnt say Mata is their ONLY threat..not at all. Drogba wasnt quick in his prime, thats not his strength...sleep on himand he can stil punish you. Ramires and Kalou cant be slept on either, especially not the former.