By dixon9
April 24 2012

Despite the excellent 1 – 0 result at Stamford Bridge and the surprising quiet encouragement from many quarters of the media; we have a huge, perhaps almost impossible, summit to conquer at the Nou Camp tonight:  This is the opinion of a huge swathe of Chelsea supporters.  As Jose Mourinho recently pointed out when dismissing our chances against the UEFA darlings “…and we all know why.”

Night of Infamy

Previous, painful experience including one of the most scandalous nights in European football in May 2009 when referee Ovrebo turned down 4 Chelsea penalties at Stamford Bridge, has convinced many of our supporters that the Champions League competition is largely corrupt.  The scars are so deep that many still refuse to attend a match in this tournament.

“Follow the money” if you want to get to the route of the cause.  TV money and sponsorship were desperate for a Barcelona v Man Utd final in 2009 and UEFA were growing tired and worried about the English club dominance in their premier competition.  The sponsors wanted and will still want Messi and Barcelona’s almost mesmerising brand of football in the final – this is what the vast majority of worldwide armchair neutrals want to see – and what the public want the public gets.

Who is the real poison in football?

To compound matters further we are not exactly neither UEFA’s nor the UEFA Referees Committee’s favourite club.  A look back at recent history and the notorious Nou Camp referee’s room incident when Mourinho and Chelsea FC  were subjected to a UEFA kangaroo court of “Flanders Pigeon Murderer” proportions says it all - well not quite says it all because the head of UEFA’s referees committee had also publicly branded Mourinho a poison in football.  A look through the list of UEFA officers and those connected to Barcelona would put the nail in the coffin.

The best?

Well, I suppose that’s enough of my what a few may consider “grassy knoll” rantings.  On to tonight’s match:

Naturally, it is quite conceivable that the Catalans will not need any favouritism at all to secure their pass to the final.  They are one of the most powerful forces ever seen in contemporary football and quite capable of giving us the same sort of stuffing we metered out to Spurs at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final although surprisingly, we have been receiving favourable comments from unexpected quarters:

“The Barcelona that we have seen last Wednesday is not the Barcelona of last year,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

“It is far from impossible to qualify because Chelsea go in an even better position than we did last season – 1‑0 is a fantastic result.”

“Barcelona will have 70% of the ball but is it not worth trying to score a goal?”

“That would, mentally, be a massive blow to Barcelona because I have seen last year when we scored … it was a lucky goal but I could see suddenly that they became very nervous.”

“You know, if Chelsea played like that (as we did at Stamford Bridge last week) the whole season it would be more difficult to understand but in a European Cup game, against Barcelona, you understand that. You want them to qualify.”

Wenger knows though that it’s not just Barcelona you take on when you play at the Nou Camp (sorry! Can’t help myself!).  Robin van Persie was controversially and inexplicably sent off in the 59^th minute last season when, despite Catalan dominance, it looked like Arsenal had every chance of progressing to the final.  Indeed, an interesting fact is that Barcelona have never beaten us in modern European football when we have had 11 men on the pitch.

UEFA stool pigeon?

Tonight’s referee is 36 year-old Cüneyt Çakır from Turkey.  He made his Champions League debut in 2003 as a 4^th official at a qualifying round match between Skonto FC and Sliema Wanderers F.C.although his first refereeing matches came in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup for two games including a group stage fixture between FC Twente and FC Schalke 04. 

His first Champions League match was on 29 September 2010 when he refereed a group D fixture between Rubin Kazan and Barcelona which ended in a 1 – 1 draw.  He has history with us.  He took charge of our match against FC Spartak Moscow on 3 November 2010.

It is typical of UEFA to select this type of referee for this match.  They could have opted for an experienced Italian or German league referee who would not have been so easily intimidated by the Nou Camp faithful.  Echoes now of Norwegian Ovrebo, who was suddenly brought out of the wilderness after being crossed off their list for a season.  Ovrebo was obviously beholden to the referee’s committee and the “right result” was delivered at Stamford Bridge.  So does a place in Euro 2012 beckon for Cüneyt Çakır? 

Ashley Cole, Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires, Raul Meireles and David Luiz are one yellow card away from missing the final whilst Carles Puyol and Javier Mascherano's next bookings will also incur a suspension.

A lot is being made of Drogba’s theatrics in the media this morning.  Fair enough.  But I wonder why Barcelona’s history of diving or rolling over, checking to see if the referee is looking, then continuing the roll (Yes I mean you Messi) will get the same attention from Çakır?  Probably not.

Mission impossible?

All doom and gloom? No!  We can win it although we will have to make it impossible for the referee to send one of our players off and we will have to score a goal that is impossible to rule out.  Do that as well as staving off one of the best teams in European football history and we’ll be in the final!

Come on Chels!

Against the Barcelona and UEFA mountain – Chelsea CL Preview

Discussion started by 50 Years Over 100 Years , 24/04/2012 09:13

50 Years Over 100 Years
24/04/2012 09:13

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Since 66
24/04/2012 10:30

Shearer wrote brilliantly about us yesterday.

If we get the same result as Ruben Kazan did - JOB DONE



Don't Gamble, Bet Risk Free

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dixon9
24/04/2012 11:17

Sky going about Drogba-but no mention of this re Barcelona:

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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.

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