Les Blues defeated !

Well for all those who find it difficult to say this, Chelsea were defeated by a stronger opponent yesterday to book a place in the QF of the Champion's League. It was more disaapointing because a 10 men chelsea had been much more threatning than the 11 men side. And because I have been surrounded by so many "Beautiful game lovers"(read Chelsea Haters) that I am going to put my opinions with immense relief. So here goes the list of issues followed lots of free flowing words.

Rijkaard tactically better than Mourinho: Let me set the record straight here. It was a victory only and only because of the Ronaldihno and he has been given that talent by god almighty himself and not by Rijkaard atlaest. Chelsea could not play their trademark all-out-attack-under-pressure game and most of it was because the one magician on the Camp Nou ground who had them scared throughout the night. And many can defend their lactlusture performance to the fact that one goal from Barca in the earlier half could have sealed the game the other way and thus complete discipline was required at the back. Post this game Mourinho still keeps the best manager tag (present) and Ronaldihnio proves his worth as the best player.

Is 10-men disadvantageous ? This question really gives me the heebie jeebies. Of course 10 men is not disadvantageous if you have the Ronnie magic on your side. It really doesnt matter then if your team gets 1 red card or 5 red cards. Of course Ronnie shouldnt be red carded but then with his class of play he really cant be. There is no need for him to go ahead and tackle a person, his legs are like magnet to the ball and they stick together.
But on the other hand if your opponent team has Ronnie on their side then you cant even keep a slightly injured player on your side let alone play with 10 men. If somebody saw the second leg he could easily appreciate the tactically beauty of hte manager who had nearly stopped the Ronnie genius by using his Chelsea machine. And yes chelsea kept fouling all over the field but the number of fouls on Ronnie was pretty less !! I dont know why Makelele had decided that he was going to break Motta's back (of all the people, probably wanting to get him red carded). But all the same the tackles around Ronnie were really worth wacthing. They really couldnt take the ball of his feet, but they definately stopped him from having a go at the goal. And with all 11 men on field they could occasionally (though not as much as they would have liked to) could run up without the fear of conceding a goal on counterattack.

Beautiful Football And this third section is dedicated to the hollering people who claim that it was a victory of beautiful football. This is an absurd argument considering the fact that there was just one player playing beautiful football and his rest of the teammates werent even able to get the ball to him.
And honestly it is a defeat for those who wanted to see attacking football emerge victorious. I mean the best barca could have done was to finish the tie with 2 straight goals. Now tell me whats the use of blaming a team for playing counterattacking football and then beating them by playing with the same technique and claim that boring football has lost. Terrbile arguments tend to happen in places where people have mastered the art of discussions :)

Mourinho How can this blog be complete without the mention of the man himself. Infact I feel the need to add the weekend game of West Brom in between to draw the complete picture.
1st Leg CL Del Horno gets red carded for all the wrong reasons in the clash of titans. The manager is angry and has all the right to be.

West Brom EPL Refree books Robben for all the wrong reasons again. And then Robson decides that he can go ahead and abuse the diving Drogba in all manners that he feels possible and even then the media decides that Mourinho is at fault for trying to defend his player. Both the manager dont shake hands and ofcourse for this Mourinho is called "sour loser" !!!!!!! Wake up guys they won 2-1.
2nd Leg CL Chelsea draw level with Barca at there home, when everybody thought that they would be demolished. Terry claims a controversial penalty but other than that the game has been full with the refree's whistle. Mourinho has been realtively quiet throughout the match. And in pre match reviews Deco made it clear that Mourinho has created this footballing personna for himself to rile up his enemies. And honestly till this point everything is ok.
Post match Mourinho says that "The better team over the ties did not qualify" and that I must say is bullshit

So thats that !!