By Chris Wright
1. First of all, well done Chelsea. I think the word ‘phenomenal’ just about covers your performances over the two legs. Defending is just as integral a part of the game as attacking and, for all Barca’s captivating intricacy in and around the area, Chelsea’s heroic flat back nine emerged the victors. It truly was the stuff of footballing fairytale.
2. Gary Neville summed up the elation of an entire nation when greeting Chelsea left-back Fernando Torres’ 91st-minute goal with a line of commentary which is destined for immortality…
Any excuse to watch that again.
3. Petr Cech may well have been joking when he told a press conference that he’d been on the phone to Jose Mourinho for tips, but someone (perhaps a national newspaper or global broadcasting conglomerate) should tap his voicemail. Chelsea, almost to a ‘T’, went all ‘Inter Milan, Camp Nou, 2010’ on Barca’s arses – even including having a men sent off after half-an-hour!
4. Silly Johnny, he really don’t like Champions League finals do he? Seems he’ll do anything to get out of them…
It’s the kind of thing that would earn you a warm ripple of applause in the changing rooms after a pub league game, but in a Champions League semi-final? Stupidity incarnate.
Granted, it wasn’t particularly violent violent conduct and Sanchez plummeted like Terry had swung a meat cleaver into his right buttock; but with five officials and a raft of cameras cinched in on every player, Terry’s decision to opt for a bit of old-fashioned roughing up (he was definitely going for the dead leg) showed that the elite-level game is quickly leaving ‘agricultural’ players like him behind.
5. Safe to say the merry patrons watching the game in the Fulham Broadway Pub – situated about 100-odd metres down the road from Stamford Bridge – thoroughly enjoyed the Camp Nou climax (of the game that is, we’re not talking about Neville here again!)…
6. For all the fixation on Chelsea’s defensive display, they still managed to score two goals in a ‘pretty-much-winner-takes-all’ grandstand game at the Camp Nou – which is, I’m sure you’re aware, no mean feat.
7. Speaking of the goals, everything about Ramires’ chip was of the very highest calibre. Of course, the finish was majestic but Frank Lampard’s exquisite throughball was every bit as regal…
8. We’ll put pound to a penny that Fernando Torres had flashbacks to Old Trafford as he wafted around Victor Valdes. Good on him though; the hard graft he’s put in this season, the poor lamb deserved a break – and breaks don’t come an awful lot bigger than sealing your side’s berth in the Champions League final.
9. This face is going to haunt out sleep for a good few weeks…
10. Barca’s 2011/12 campaign looks likely to end with just a Copa Del Rey (if they beat Athletic Bilbao in the final) and a largely arbitrary Club World Cup to polish come July. The end of an era? No, probably not. Just an ever-so-slightly duff season.
11. What the heck is Roman Abramovich going to do with Roberto Di Matteo if Chelsea go on and win this damn thing in Munich? We’ve got a sneaking feeling that RDM is going to get bumped back to ‘backroom staff’ whatever the outcome in the Allianz Arena when Mick McCarthy takes his rightful place in Chelsea dugout after guiding England to EURO 2012 glory.