[Sleeper]

Originally Posted by Joel

It's definitely Juventus and the referee against us. For sure. Yep. Juve are at it again. Cheats, nothing but cheats



Nope. None of them were penalties. If anything, penalties should have been given to Barcelona /bananas

You're biased. Chelsea were denied ONLY 2 penalties, and Barcelona were denied a penalty from the first leg, and got an unfair red card. So Chelsea were hardly screwed. You guys got exactly what you deserved from that tie given the anti-football you played. Iniesta's goal that game was a victory for football.

[Gambit]

Originally Posted by Bananas

You're biased. Chelsea were denied ONLY 2 penalties, and Barcelona were denied a penalty from the first leg, and got an unfair red card. So Chelsea were hardly screwed. You guys got exactly what you deserved from that tie given the anti-football you played. Iniesta's goal that game was a victory for football.

I hate Chelsea but this hilarious. The ref from the second leg was fucking awful. Chelsea played a clever strategy not anti-football. Anti-football is stoke trying to kick people off the pitch and acting like thugs. Chelsea just played defensive.

[WOOLCOCK]

^ please tell me the final part of that post is sarcasm Bananas? I want to give you the benefit of the doubt given Joel's sarcastic response in his post, but if that's your genuine opinion then christ that's misguided. Nothing wrong with Chelsea's tactics in those ties. Not every team is blessed with the academy, scouting and raw talent Barcelona's academy and coaches have to ensure a long line of technically gifted footballers from a young age. Chelsea basically admitting trying to play Barcelona's game against them was hopeless and adjusting to tactics that benefitted their players and which were used to nullify the barcelona attack were justifiable.

'Victory for football' is also elitist garbage. As a neutral I didn't give a crap who got through, best team over the course of two legs deserves to go through in spite of my personal feelings. This idea that football fans as a whole cultivate to respect and support Barcelona is a hilarious myth. They play great football and I admire the fondness of developing young players to be the mainstay of their team, but if you're going to try and extend basic respect for their football ideology into some form of support and wanting them to win 'for the sake of football'...well then I don't know what to say.

[Sleeper]

Never said the ref wasn't bad. He made 3 very bad calls that game. 2 non given penalties for Chelsea, and one bad red card given to Barcelona. Then if you also take into account the non given penalty to Barcelona from the first leg, you'll see that the poor decisions were pretty much split between the sides.

[Sleeper]

Also it's worth noting, I don't mind defensive/cautious football. Chelsea were playing hoof ball against Barcelona. There was no intent for any midfield elaboration on their part. If I recall correctly, they in the 20s % for possession in both legs. It was just hoofball up to Drogba, and all the midfielders just defend.

[WOOLCOCK]

Originally Posted by Bananas

Also it's worth noting, I don't mind defensive/cautious football. Chelsea were playing hoof ball against Barcelona. There was no intent for any midfield elaboration on their part. If I recall correctly, they in the 20s % for possession in both legs. It was just hoofball up to Drogba, and all the midfielders just defend.

Again though, they played a strategy that very nearly got them through to the final as opposed to a game plan that was very likely to see them get beaten badly in spite of it being more 'entertaining'. Look, I enjoyed seeing Chelsea go out at the death because I'll always prefer to see a domestic rival fail as opposed to winning and lauding it over me for an entire season, but if Chelsea got through and defended well to nullify Barcelona that doesn't mean I'd start accusing them of being 'anti-football'.

I dunno, your post just reminded me of people I've seen/heard talking as if Barcelona are almost their second team because of the way they play the game. I respect their philosophy and talent, but it boggles me to see and hear people basically try and argue any avid football fan should root for Barcelona based on how they play the game. Not necessarily saying you believe this, just elaborating why your point raised my interest even if I first thought it could have been sarcasm in light of Joel's post about you.

[WWE_TNA]

I wish we had use some sort of defensive sit men behind the ball tactic that chelsea used in atleast one of our finals vs barca.

[Joel]

Originally Posted by Bananas

You're biased. Chelsea were denied ONLY 2 penalties, and Barcelona were denied a penalty from the first leg, and got an unfair red card. So Chelsea were hardly screwed. You guys got exactly what you deserved from that tie given the anti-football you played. Iniesta's goal that game was a victory for football.

Nah, they were more than two pens that should have gone to us. A definite three, potentially four.

Abidal should not have been sent off for what he was. But he should have been sent off for pulling Dorgba's shirt in a one on one situation earlier in the game. It caught up in the end.

Your excuses suck balls.

Do I really care anymore? Not really. We avenged that loss last year and we know what happened after that.

[I Curry I]

You can call it anti-football all you want but in the second leg Chelsea had as many shot and corners as Barca, as well as having fewer fouls.

[Sleeper]

Originally Posted by Joel

Nah, they were more than two pens that should have gone to us. A definite three, potentially four.

Abidal should not have been sent off for what he was. But he should have been sent off for pulling Dorgba's shirt in a one on one situation earlier in the game. It caught up in the end.

Your excuses suck balls.

Do I really care anymore? Not really. We avenged that loss last year and we know what happened after that.

FOUR? If you honestly think the Ballack handball one was a penalty, then you're more deluded than I thought. It's simple, the Malouda one was a freekick, outside the area. The Drogba one, penalty. Pique handball, penalty. So yes, Chelsea got some bad decisions. So did Barca. You can argue that Abidal should have gotten the red from the Drogba tackle all you like and then say you got the worse of it because of that. But had Henry gotten his penalty for the first leg, it would have been a completely different game if Barce were going into it a goal ahead. So swings and roundabouts. Typically though, the racist English media swarmed it up into a frenzy and got everyone mad without actually looking at the bigger picture. The deserving team went through. Deal with it. It's quite sad actually that Chelsea fans are still whinging about it all this time after. Arsenal once went out to PSV because of an incorrectly give corner kick. No one goes on about that. We lost to Sampdoria once in a Cup Winner's Cup semi final in 1995 due to an offside goal in the 90th minute. Only ever heard about it once and I've been a gooner for over a decade (we were actually playing the antifootball that day. Thank god for Wenger). You guys just need to get over it.