Iniesta, a man who has come on in leaps and bounds this season, completely stunned Stamford Bridge tonight by grabbing a last-gasp goal just as the 40,000-strong Chelsea faithgul were dusting off their passports and setting towards Rome. Essien's beautiful early goal was almost matched by Iniesta's late strike, but the important thing in semi-finals, as everyone knows, is the result.
It was the classic encounter of artistry versus graft, good versus evil, free-flow versus organisation, if you will. The match started in predictable fashion, with Barcelona enjoying all of the possession and Chelsea remaining strong and organisation, but this only set up the clichéd goal, against the run of play.
After a rare venture forward for the home side, the ball dropped to Michael Essien and the rest was simply magic. On his weaker foot, with a man in his face and with the ball at a difficult height, the Ghanaian left the floor and displayed exquisite technique to power a volley towards the Barcelona goal. It dipped, it moved and found the corner, leaving Valdes completely stranded and helpless, and leaving Essien with a goal to celebrate.
Much like Manchester United in last year's semi-final, the English outfit had got their home goal early in the second leg, after a deadlock in the Camp Nou. This must have started to feel like deja vu for the leaders of La Liga.
Barcelona, in a similar way to Arsenal, only know one way to play, and so it was constant pass-and-move but Chelsea, in a dissimilar fashion to the Gunners in last night's tie, remained organised and dogged at the back. For all of the possession Barcelona enjoyed in the first half, they failed to cut Chelsea open, and for Chelsea, it was the inverse. They used what possession they were allowed to it's full potential, with Drogba, Anelka and Malouda causing the make-shift Barcelona defence problems every time they marauded forward.
Just after the fifteen-minute mark, Lampard played in Malouda behind Dani Alves. Alves is no slouch, but Malouda was simply too quick, reaching the box first and sliding the ball back to Lampard. He, however, could not do what Essien had done minutes earlier, as he slashed high and wide with his weaker foot.
Next, it was Drogba's turn, when he was played in beautifully by Lampard seven minutes later. The Ivorian was constantly nestling himself in between the recently-formed partnership of Pique and Touré. Valdes was quick off his line to meet Drogba at the edge of the box and won the battle, just as it looked like the Chelsea frontman would nick it away just as he did in the FA Cup Semi Final.
Florent Malouda was causing Alves, the best full back in the world, all kinds of trouble. He could have had a penalty a few minutes later. The Frenchman reached the line before deceiving Alves with his Cruyff turn. Alves, knowing he was beaten, pulled Malouda to the floor but the referee deemed it a free kick, not a penalty. Drogba took the reulting set piece, firing wickedly across goal, but Valdes was up to the challenge and punched the ball away for a corner.
John Terry rose to meet the corner that was subsequently taken, but his header narrowly evaded the on-rushing Alex, and the far post. For all of Barcelona's lightning-quick passing and movement, it was Chelsea who was creating all of the chances. It was proving that football can be played as beautifully as God intended, but effective, drilled teams will usually triumph. Something that Arsene Wenger seems incapable of grasping.
Just two minutes after Terry's header, the other fan-favourite, Frank Lampard, played Drogba in dangerously in again. He had found the gap between Pique and Toure once again and he looked set to score. Shrugging off Abidal and closing in on Valdes, the Ivorian was trying to muster a shot, but fell to the floor under what can only be described as a clumsy attempt to win the ball by the Frenchman. The referee, inexplicably, waved the claims away.
Such was the nature of Chelsea's defending, and Barcelona's unwillingness to change their style of play, that was the last incident of note before the interval. The eleven in blue were drilled to the inch, and were allowing Barcelona the ball in certain areas, but not allowing them into the box. Barcelona's boots were built to pass, and so they seemed incapable of playing long balls and at least testing Chelsea in different ways.
Eight minutes after the restart, Drogba could have put the match beyond the Catalonians. Nicolas Anelka's brilliant play sucked in the Chelsea defence and slipped in his Ivorian team-mate to the right. Drogba took his first touch and deceived Pique, who made a last ditch attempt at blocking Drogba's effort. All Drogba had to do was beat Valdes with his effort, but the Spaniard proved he was equal to the task, saving with his feet and keeping Barcelona in the tie.
Fatigue started to affect the veteran-filled Chelsea team, who were starting to concede some space to the away side; a dangerous thing to do when playing the most potently creative team in world football. On the hour mark, Keita controlled the ball on the penalty spot but sent the ball high, wide and handsome with his turn-and-volley.
Five minutes later, Messi shrugged off the chasing Chelsea pack and attempted to beat Cech from range. However, rather typical of his night, the Argentinian skewed his shot high and wide of the target.
Then, the game changed. A long ball from Cech was again too much for Barca's centrebacks to deal with, and left Abidal alone to defend against Anelka. With little or no contact, Anelka fell to the floor and the referee sent Abidal for an early bath, after asking his assistant, “Is he off?”
Much like Fletcher's dismissal last night, it was an extremely harsh decision and one that the referee got totally wrong. By the letter of the law, with the last man rule, the referee was right to send Abidal off the field, if he so deemed it a foul. However, it was a very harsh decision to send him off, considering there was little contact. Lampard scuffed the resulting free kick wide of the target.
Two minuteslater, Lampard could have wrote his name on the scoresheet but not for Valdes. His shot took a wicked deflection off a Barcelona defender, but Valdes changed his feeting quickly to pounce on the ball.
With the game on a knife-edge, against a team that could score at any moment, Chelsea wanted to put the game beyond reach, and Anelka wanted two penalties. Firstly, he felt he was brought to the floor illegally by Yaya Toure, but the referee, for not the first time in the night, waved away the appeals. It seemed to be the correct decision; the next, however, was incorrect.
Anelka had put himself in between the Barcelona defenders, much like Drogba had done before being substituted, and he flicked the ball beyond Pique to set up his opportunity. It seemed, however, to almost everyone inside the Bridge, that Pique had illegally stopped the ball with his hand. Their eyes were not deceiving them, as the replays showed.
Barcelona, who had not tested Petr Cech once all game, scored in the dying embers. This game throws up headlines all the time, and Iniesta's perfectly-placed shot in the 92nd minute left Cech no chance and left Guardiola dancing down the touchline. After surviving a red card, multiple penalty appeals and close scares, the footballing Gods triumphed over the footballing anti-Christs to set up a dream final between the Catalonians and the current holders. There is not much more to say.
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