Suddenly, everyone think Chelsea FC are the heroes and Roberto Di Mateo the man. It is surely with good reason and man do they deserve it! A friend of mine excellently summed it up well by saying that the only time he saw a team defend with such gusto and with their lives, was way back in 1990, at the Italia '90 Fifa World Cup during the opening match when 9-men Cameroon shut out and beat the world champions, Argentina, 1-0.
I usually fore go my agreements and disagreement with fellow bloggers like Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez. I am tempted to boast about it once in a while. I went through one analysis which showed we wrote it about about the same time, but given our different geographical locations, I will not say they were copying my posts.
Without giving much detail of total agreements we had about how Barcelona lost it, it is suffice to say that the game of football is like that. The odds Chelsea faced from the first leg in London and then Barcelona were almost insurmountable, but when a team stands up to be counted, special things happen.
After the departure of one AVB, I went through his reign that faced resistance of the team's old guard. Much attention was also given to how the Blues could be a very dangerous team. At this point, all can see that they are team that have suddenly ran out games to win the Premiership.
Having said that, some coaching needs to be thrown into the works and so far, Di Mateo's philosophy has not come in to the fore. What has been exhibited is what African township footballers call a 'money game mentality'. Tactics and talent count for nothing.
Defending with one's life and body is one acceptance mode if one is devoid of necessary qualification to compete. That drove Chelsea. Al things equal and pound for pound, they knew they were no match for Barcelona.
What the Catalan faithfuls and the technical department will now defend with their lives, is the answer to the question flying throughout the media at this moment - that they have no plan B, but then, one must understand the footballing meaning of their plan A to start with.
Those privileged to have accessed my book, The Anatomy of Football will know by now, the obvious facts that a team to score goals, they need to have the ball. The defence philosophy becomes easy to deduce, given that you must not concede if you keep it, well of course.
Barcelona kept the ball to themselves and got carried away too much in doing that. It is how keep it and what you do with it next that will matter more.
The Spanish team, despite their shining record and statistics, never passed their quarter-final status, save for 3 minutes. This was after the Andreas Iniesta's goal and the Ramirez's strike. The rest of the 200 minutes of the matches, they were either either at par or chasing the game.
Their comfort lay in sharing the deal with the Londoners before Didier Drogba hit the net at Stanford Bridge, after which they were over and out, and then at the point Busquets scored at the Camp Nou. As afore-mentioned, they only momentarily took the initiative with Iniesta's superb strike. With the magical Brazilian's deft touch, they were doomed once more, albeit permanently.
For their efforts, Chelsea were on the back foot from the front. Much of the fixture depended on what they did, and how well they would continue to do it. They needed to close down attacks and stop conceding the ball they could not have. That called for discipline and character.
Knowing how difficult that can be in real life, John Terry became human and nearly cost the team dearly when he was red-carded for an offence he really did not need to commit. Under the circumstances, it was not about numbers, statistics or tactics as already said. It was a different ball game.
While I attracted hate from Barca fans as a 'hater' of the Catalans, it may start to make sense what I always tried to put across. I love football and Barcelona. Lionel Messi is my favourite footballer and, of course, the best player ever. My point has been, and always be, the team is finished. How?
With their incredible ability to possess, pass and play the ball, they should have the ability to play in frontal lines and even more. Many saw as the only option for Chelsea to park the bus in front of the Barcelona goal, and surely, so did Barca themselves.
The Spanish giants used the same eyes to look at their own available solutions to the problems; to plummet the bus to total destruction. They wanted to ride over the flat remains of the steel heap and much over it bare-footed. They have successfully done that before against Real Madrid and other big European teams. Maybe the size of the competitions warranted it.
This one was a different kettle of fish altogether. The bus was bigger, Blue and its tyres fully inflated. Their easiest option, which I have seen them fail to implement well now than they did before, was to tow the bus away. Hook up a tow-bar and drive away the thing and slot balls in.
In football terms, instead of staying years at the edge of the Chelsea penalty box, they could have kept the ball further out, slowly and inch by inch. Players, no matter how old and how mature, they will always follow the ball. It does not have to make sense whatever they do, as seen by the red card Terry received, they always get attracted to the leather.
The obvious space created between Petr Cech and his third class central defenders in wing defenders, Ivanovic and Bosingwa, was where their money was. It is common knowledge how the fast-paced Messi intrinsically interweaves passes with Iniesta and Xavi into the box at great speed.
All Barca did, was failed to slide away a bus they tried to grind to powder when it was ready to roll. For their good part, they waited for the pounding to finish and efficiently threw precise attacks at very opportune moment with tell composure that their chief architects, Xavi, Messi and Iniesta would be jealous about.
Given 90% of the squad have Fifa World Cup medals to their well-deserved and due credit, failing to see and act on that qualifies me to tell you that they are finished. As the leading team in the world, they are done. Their history and momentum may carry them a little further, but either the coach or some key players will have to go and leave the rebuilding process to commence, the sooner the better.
(The Anatomy of Football is currently available at discounted rates at the Amazon online store.)
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