Pain In Spain
‘BEFORE this weeks round of Champions League matches, English teams were among the best in the world.
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| Didier Drogba sees red |
Then the whistles blew and the games kicked off.
Arsenal were flattered by a 3-1 scoreline in Bayern Munichs favour, Chelsea were beaten in Barcelona and Manchester United went down at home 1-0 to AC Milan.
Only Liverpool managed a win 3-1 over Bayer Leverkusen – but only the most blinkered Red would believe their club can go all the way without lashings of luck.
And luck is important, as Chelsea found out last night. First, as the Times says, the Blues were fortunate to earn a goal when Barcas Juliano Belletti turned the ball into his own net.
Somewhere in the thermosphere up in Barcas towering stadium the travelling Chelsea fans laughed, mocked and danced.
And then the luck turned against them. As the Telegraph says, having already been booked, Chelseas Didier Drogba made a risky lunge at the ball and bundled into Barcas goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
That was yellow card number two. And in the numbers game, it meant Chelsea had ten men.
This, as the paper says, gifted Barcelona the initiative and they took it with glee, scoring two goals to win the tie 2-1.
Chelsea were unfortunate to lose Drogba; but not to lose the match not if you believe the Suns statistical analysis.
In the course of the entire match, the Blues managed just two shots on goal, both of which were deemed to be off target. Over the same period, Barcelona had 11 shots on target, 13 shots off target and 11 shots blocked.
Statistics can lie, but even to the most questioning mind these numbers paint a pretty conclusive picture of events in the Nou Camp.
Meanwhile, in Old Trafford, Roy Carroll, Uniteds hapless goalkeeper, was proving to be true to his reputation and spilling a shot.
His clanger allowed Milans Hernan Crespo to feast on the pickings.
This time Carroll didnt even bother pretending the other team hadnt scored. He saw it. The net moved. It was a goal.
Just the thing when youre busy negotiating a new contract…’
Posted: 24th, February 2005 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
