FOOTBALL: CHELSEA 1-2 BARCELONA

Well, I woke up only in the 2nd half! Crap! My alarm clock alerted me to wake up early but I failed as I tried to sleep a little bit more. I hope I did not miss too much great action from the first half.

By the way, the second half was fast and furious. The attacking flow of football was good. I wished for the match to be like how AC Milan played Barcelona a season or two back but alas, this is more one sided because Chelsea were down with 10 men. I did not see the incident as I watched only in the second half, but here is the report from Soccernet.com.

But the game erupted in the 37th minute when Messi chased a long ball into the corner.
Robben had the edge on him and tried to shield the ball out of play for a goal-kick but Messi was too quick for him.

The Argentinian teenager skipped around the Dutchman, kept the ball in and left Robben floundering in a heap.

Del Horno came hurtling towards Messi but once again the young striker was too fast.
He poked the ball past the Chelsea defender and then took evasive action to avoid the full force of his challenge.

Television replays showed it was a badly mistimed tackle but did not appear to be malicious.
It was probably a booking at most, but Messi rolled around in the mud and the Barca players reacted as if he had been murdered.

They sprinted to surround referee Terje Hauge, who waited until Del Horno stopped pretending he was also injured before granting the Barca wishes and brandishing his red card.

Chelsea were furious, Messi was fit to carry on and a smouldering Mourinho repaired his back four by replacing Joe Cole with Geremi.

Well, is Messi really acting? I need to watch the replays. You get to see more of Messi's skills in the second half and he is definitely terrific. He will definitely be the player to watch for the World Cup. So much composure and really very steady on the ball. His dribblings are so messy (no pun intended) and definitely creates hell for the opposition.

Eto'o was pushed rather back to give Larsson more space in front, which is a weird formation. Ronaldinho was always the dangerous wanderer in midfield. You can easily see the difference in class when he goes head to head with Lampard. Lampard is easily struggling when they go one on one. Ronaldinho did create the first goal with the own goal by Terry from a free kick. Barcelona like Arsenal last night, could have scored easily 2-3 goals more but were unlucky. Messi hit the crossbar too.

I am excited as everyone else to hear what Mourinho has to say. What funny remarks will he make this time around....hehe! That joker! Chelsea need two goals at least in Nou Camp to turn things round and I wonder why Gudjohnsen is selected in front of the favourite Drogba for this match. Why is Damien Duff not used when Robben was substituted? I thought Robben was the most dangerous person for Chelsea in the second half.

Generally, the night produces alot more goals compare to last night. 16 goals are scored today compare to only 5 yesterday! 3 times more! Scorelines like Werder Bremen 3-2 Juventus should raise eyebrows! How did that match go? Should be exciting to watch too. Ajax 2-2 Inter and Rangers 2-2 Villarreal. Glad to see Riquelme and Forlan in the scoresheets for Villarreal, especially for Riquelme. His return from injury will mean that Villarreal again being the team to beat this season after what they had shown last season!

Well, Champions League fever is over for now. Back again in two weeks time. Many changes can happen in football in two weeks.