Champion League Semi Final Chelsea vs Barcelona

First half With the visitors enjoying plenty of possession in the opening stages, Chelsea defended deep and looked to utilise the threat of Drogba on the break, and it almost paid dividends on two separate occasions, firstly when he failed to control a Cech kick, and soon after when he opted to take Puyol on instead of holding the ball up and waiting for support. The Spanish side's ability to open teams up at will was all too apparent, however, when Andres Iniesta played a ball over the top of the Blues' back-four and Alexis Sanchez raced on to it before lifting his strike beyond Cech, only to see it bounce back off the bar. It was a frenetic opening to the game, and while Drogba was penalised for a tackle on Sergio Busquets, the home crowd quickly became aggrieved as decision after decision went Barcelona's way. Lionel Messi had been a peripheral figure for the opening 10 minutes, but a trademark run saw the Argentinian tee up Iniesta whose shot was parried by Cech. The rebound fell directly into the path of Cesc Fabragas, but as the former Arsenal man looked destined to break the deadlock, he scuffed his strike and allowed Chelsea to clear. fabregas The ability of Pep Guardiola's side to retain possession before finding a killer pass was beginning to tell, and Cech had to be alert twice in quick succession to prevent Messi from opening the scoring, while Iniesta felt he was pulled down in the penalty area by Cahill, one of the few decisions that went our way early on. Xavi, so often the man who makes the holders of the trophy tick, was dictating the pace of the game, with one particular pass seeking out Daniel Alves requiring a last-ditch clearance from Ashley Cole. While we defended desperately, albeit resolutely, at times, as an attacking force we'd been virtually non-existent , with Victor Valdes not having a save to make. Three minutes before the break, Mikel lost out to Messi on the halfway line, and as the forward broke at speed, he slipped in the advancing Fabregas to his left who cleverly lifted the ball beyond Cech, but as the away fans began to celebrate, Cole, once again, made a wonderful clearance off the line to keep the scores at bay. Amazingly, and against the run of play, the Blues took the lead in added time of the first half with our first real attempt. Lampard sprayed it out wide to Ramires, and as the Brazilian fizzed a cross to the back post, Drogba was on hand to force his strike beyond the despairing dive of Valdes to give us a priceless advantage,his fifth goal in this season's tournament. drogba goal Second half Barcelona, clearly stung by that late first-half sucker punch by Drogba, came out for the second half on the front foot, and Cech was forced into an impressive early save from a curling Adriano effort, while Cahill made a fantastic block from a Messi strike. Minutes later we rode our luck once more when Sanchez fired wide after exchanging passes with Messi, before Alves blazed high over the bar from an Iniesta cross. It was Cahill again who brought a roaming Messi run to a halt as the Argentine exposed three Blues defenders, and our January acquisition was enjoying one of his most impressive games in a Blue shirt. As the game wore on, Messi's influence on proceedings began to increase, and another marauding run required an expertly timed block from John Terry. Chelsea v Barcelona Guardiola, sensing an opening, made the first change of the evening, replacing Sanchez with Pedro in a straight swap, while both Ramires and the Barcelona substitute found themselves booked in the space of a couple of minutes for late, albeit fairly innocuous challenges. Salomon Kalou was introduced to the action with just under 20 minutes, replacing a tired Juan Mata as Di Matteo sensed the necessity for fresh legs in a side who had been overrun for large parts of the game. Fabregas made way for Thiago with 10 minutes left to play, but it was backs to the walls for the Blues as we came under an inevitable flurry of pressure from the European champions. Much like the first 45 minutes, there was an impotency about our attacking play, with clear-cut opportunities few and far between, not that the home fans were bothered, as they sung their hearts out, willing their team on. Cech made a stunning save with five minutes left on the clock, as Puyol flicked on a teasing Messi free-kick which was delivered at pace, making the stop all the more special. Di Matteo replaced Ramires with Bosingwa in an attempt to shore things up in the closing stages, while Drogba became the second Chelsea player to have his name taken by Felix Brych. Barcelona looked to have stolen a late equaliser in the dying seconds when Pedro's effort beat Cech, only to bounce back off the foot of the post, while Busquets could only smash the rebound high up into the Shed End .

Chelsea vs Benfica second leg

First half
Chelsea had to defend almost non-stop for the first four minutes as Benfica, attacking the Shed End containing their fans, started with a high tempo. There were important block tackles from Lampard and John Terry on the edge of our area before we eventually took the ball inside the opposition half.

The Blues won our first corner on seven minutes, flicked on to David Luiz in space who rifled a shot goalwards, blocked well by the leg of Capdevila.

We threatened to cut through the Portuguese side on the break soon after but Mata got his angles wrong in attempting to find Torres ahead of him. Mata had the ball in the net seconds later, but had run offside in the move.

The Slovenian ref wasn't slow to whistle up physical contact and on 18 minutes he produced a yellow card for the first time. David Luiz had anticipated well, nipping between Oscar Cardozo and the ball and receiving a kick on the ankle from the Benfica striker as a reward.

A minute later the ref was reaching for his card again, this time in the aftermath of awarding Chelsea a penalty. Cole had just taken down a lofted ball forward when he was bundled to the floor by stand-in centre-back Garcia. Bruno Cesar and Maxi Pereira were booked in the aftermath.

Chelsea v Benfica

The keeper went the correct way with his dive but Lampard found the bottom corner with his spot kick for his 22nd Champions League goal. Chelsea were 2-0 up on aggregate with 20 minutes of the second leg played.

Five minutes later, there was more vulnerability at the back from Benfica when everyone missed a Cech long punt. Torres ran clear but wide and then picked out no one in blue with his ball across.

Aimar made it three Benfica bookings for dissent and four overall before his side came close to a goal with that rarest of sights in the modern game, a free-kick routine. Initially played out wide, it was eventually nodded down to Carodozo who beat Cech with his shot but Terry blocked on the line and Ivanovic cleared.

Chelsea v Benfica


Ivanovic was the first Chelsea name in the book on 37 minutes for a trip on Gaitan after the previously high-standard Mikel and Ramires conspired to give away the ball. The Benfica free-kick that followed was played straight into the Chelsea wall.

The cards kept coming on this stop-start evening and when Pereira slid his studs into Mikel's shin, he saw his second yellow and had to walk early down the tunnel.

Chelsea v Benfica

Ramires was cautioned for a late tackle on Bruno Cesar who was now right-back. Prior to that the Brazilian made what was one of very few first-half Chelsea chances, firing across the area but just out of the reach of Torres and Kalou.

Second half
Three minutes after the restart, Cech needed to produce his best save of the game after Cardozo swung a leg at a bouncing ball and sent it towards the top corner. Our keeper dived, extended one of those long arms and sent the ball over.

A minute later and up the other end, Ramires somehow missed the chance for a Chelsea second after Kalou had deceived Bruno Cesar at the far post and shot for the opposite corner. His Brazilian team-mate slid in and made contact but the player rather than the ball ended up in the net.

Chelsea v Benfica

Torres turned sharply inside the area and looked to have placed his shot inside the post but it was deflected just wide and Kalou headed a Mata cross wide. Chelsea had started the second half much better than the first.

A second goal looked like it was coming but Artur saved acrobatically from Mata before Benfica made a surprising substitution, taking off Cardozo and bringing on Oliveira. Chelsea made a sub too, replacing Terry with Cahill. The skipper went straight down the tunnel for treatment.

Chelsea's grip on the half loosened a little when Ivanovic misdirected a header and another substitute, Djalo, had a goal-bound shot deflected wide by Cahill, but then Kalou, who was seeing plenty of ball on the left, should have scored but couldn't beat the keeper from close-range. Against a side with reduced numbers and inexperience in the heart of their defence, the feeling was the Chelsea attackers should be doing better.

Mata was next to shoot wide, having been teed-up by a skilful Kalou pass but although there was more of a goal threat about Chelsea this half, we were looking less secure at the back. Djalo headed a cross just over Cech's crossbar.

On 74 minutes, MIkel spread the play out to Cole who crossed low. Kalou controlled it, spun but shot wide again.

The card count was much reduced in the second half and Cole and David Luiz managed to avoid bookings that would have ruled them out of the first game against Barcelona, but Mikel did pick up a caution for tripping Matic.

On 84 minutes came the Benfica goal. Cech had only just saved well to prevent Djalo heading in but from the corner that followed, Garcia ran unmarked to flick home with his head.