Resolute Chelsea hold out to down Barca

Chelsea pulled off a major shock on Wednesday night, beating Barcelona
1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of their Champions League
semi-final. Didier Drogba got the only goal of the game, turning in
Ramires’s cross at the back post in the second minute of first-half
injury time. Barcelona had chance after chance,

Barcelona 's Carles Puyol
but were thwarted by
a superb defensive display. Ashley Cole produced a performance
probably the equal of his exceptional display for England against
Portugal in Euro 2004, Ramires stifled Dani Alves and even the
often-maligned Mikel Jon Obi gave a performance of great discipline and
focus. Barcelona struck the bar as early as the ninth minute, Andres
Iniesta exchanging passes with Lionel Messi and then dinking a ball
over the top for Alexis Sanchez, whose lob beat Petr Cech but came back
off the crossbar. With Mikel providing a defensive shield in front
of the back four, Messi rarely had the opportunity to run at Chelsea’s
defence, but when he did, he caused problems. After 17 minutes it
was his dart and pass that found Iniesta on the left side of the box.
His cross shot was parried by Cech and Cesc Fabregas, surprisingly, he
miskicked with the goal gaping. Fabregas spurned another fine chance
two minutes before half-time as he ran on to a Messi pass and flicked
the ball over Cech. There was little pace on the shot, though, and
Ashley Cole was able to hook clear a yard from the line. There were
passages in which Chelsea barely saw the ball, but they did occasionally
threaten with long balls. A long throw-in after 11 minutes almost fell
for John Terry, but that was as close as they came until the second
minute of first-half injury-time. Messi was caught in possession by
Frank Lampard, who clipped a diagonal over the top for Ramires. The
Brazilian took the ball in his stride, advanced into the box and squared
for Drogba to slam home at the back post. The second half followed
a similar pattern. In terms of possession, Barcelona were dominant, and
they created enough chances to have won the game comfortably, but they
were wasteful in front of goal. Adriano cut in and saw a curler saved
by Cech, Alexis played a superb one-two with Fabregas but shovelled
wide as the ball become caught between his feet. The longer the game
went on, though, the more comfortable Chelsea seemed. Cech made one
sprawling late save to keep out a Puyol header and Pedro hit the post in
the last minute, but Barca, for once, seemed short of inspiration.
The second leg will be played at the Camp Nou next Tuesday.