Camp Nou heroics write new page in Roman era
Reuters - Wednesday 25 April 2012, 10:44
Whatever happens in the
Champions League final in Munich next month, Chelsea's
astonishing 3-2 aggregate win over Barcelona's artisans at the
Nou Camp in Tuesday's semi-final will go down as one of the
club's greatest achievements.
Playing with 10 men for two-thirds of the game after a
moment of madness by captain John Terry, they survived a siege
by the Catalans before 50-million-pound striker
Fernando Torres, a native of Madrid, made up for months of
failure with a late goal to seal a 2-2 draw on the night and an
unlikely 3-2 aggregate victory.
Such were the heroics of Chelsea's patched-up defence and
Barca's obsession with trying to tiki-taka their way through a
wall of white, that Torres's goal was not actually required as
his side were already edging through on away goals.
British newspapers plastered Torres's beaming face all over
their back pages on Wednesday under headlines such as
'Magnifico' and 'Miracle Men'.
On the night, however, it was a sublime goal on the stroke
of halftime from Ramires, just after Barca had gone 2-0 ahead,
that proved pivotal.
The goal allowed Chelsea, playing in a kit not unlike the
white of Real Madrid, to revert to a trench-warfare mentality
that had served them so well.
Torres's breakaway goal, after he came on as a substitute,
capped a night of enthralling drama that was all too much for
Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville, part of the Manchester
United side that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to
beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League final on another epic
Nou Camp night.
As Torres galloped clear with no Barca defender in sight in
the 90th minute before rounding Victor Valdes to score, former
England defender Neville sounded close to meltdown, shrieking a
prolonged "ahhhhhooo" before yelling a series of "unbelievables"
into his microphone. He was not overstating it.
TERRY OUT
After a season that has threatened to be one of the worst in
recent memory for Chelsea and was predicted to be the last for
many of the club's old guard such as Didier Drogba and Frank
Lampard, the club are now one win from greatness.
If they are to beat Bayern or Real Madrid on May 19 they
will have to do it without Terry, whose knee into the back of
Alexis Sanchez earned him a red card.
They will also be without right-back Branislav Ivanovic,
booked for dissent after Lionel Messi missed a second-half
penalty for Barca, and midfielders Raul Meireles and Ramires,
all of whom fought like lions.
Such has been Lady Luck's influence on Chelsea's season
since Andre Villas-Boas was sacked by owner Roman Abramovich and
replaced by caretaker coach Roberto Di Matteo, that they could
probably field the kit manager and the tea lady in Munich and
still have a chance of winning the trophy for the first time.
Abramovich has hired the game's highest-profile coaches to
deliver silverware, with varying degrees of success, but
bizarrely it is stop-gap Di Matteo who may hold the key to the
Champions League trophy the Russian billionaire craves most.
Di Matteo's first Champions League game in charge was the
quarter-final second leg at home to Napoli when his side trailed
3-1 from the first leg. Chelsea took the second leg into extra
time and won 4-1 to go through.
The Italian got lucky in the Premier League with two offside
goals allowed in a 2-1 victory over Wigan Athletic and in the FA
Cup semi-final when Juan Mata scored a goal against Tottenham
Hotspur that clearly had not crossed the line.
In the two legs against Barca, Chelsea were saved by the
woodwork on several occasions while Messi, a player with 63
goals in all competitions this season, inexplicably failed to
break his duck against the London club.
The moment the Argentine's penalty crashed back off the
crossbar early in the second half Chelsea must have believed
fate was on their side, a belief reinforced when Messi fired a
shot against the post as the minutes ticked down.
Chelsea still face a battle to finish in the top four of the
Premier League and may have to win the Champions League to
qualify for next season's competition.
After surviving all Barcelona could throw at them for three
hours in London and Catalonia, however, few would bet against
Abramovich's quest ending in glory next month.