Chelsea 1 Barcelona 1
Willian 62 Messi 75
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This is a painful season for Gooners because Arsenal are missing the party.
Their club doesn’t have a seat at the top table any more.
Arsenal 1 Monaco 3 was a signal in February 2015.
That farce was followed by Arsenal 1 Bayern Munich 5 in March 2017.
Losing at home in the Round of 16 had become the norm but getting hammered 10-2 on aggregate was hell for lifelong supporters.
The Champions League is the competition for Europe’s top football teams and Wenger’s Arsenal are no longer one of those.
Last week Liverpool won 5-0 in Porto and Man City won 4-0 in Basel and Jurgen Klopp subsequently said, “This is the best squad I’ve ever had.”
So there is a big hole in Arsenal’s winter and it’s being filled by Liverpool and Manchester and glamour games like Chelsea v Barcelona.
A fascinating contest, very tense and tight, fierce at times. Immediately, my kind of game. Compelling. Like a world title fight, with both attacks trying different ideas.
Best player in a goalless first half was Willian, who outshone Hazard.
Azpil-Christensen-Rudiger were so disciplined that we saw very little of Luis Suarez and when Barcelona won a corner, big Courtois dominated by catching the ball..
This was Antonio Conte’s first meeting with Barcelona, the best team in the world.
A really huge night for the Italian because he didn’t do much in the CL when he coached Juventus.
While I was critical of Neymar’s performance last week for PSG in Madrid, last night I thought Barcelona missed Neymar. His speed and agility gave them a dimension they don’t have now.
Early on the high press of Barca was dictating the shape of the contest. But when Willian made a beautiful burst forward, Rakitic fouled him, knowing that he would be booked.
Four minutes later in 34, Willian’s shot hit Ter Stegen’s left hand post four feet up.
This despite Barcelona having the lion’s share of the ball.
In 42, Willian smacked a shot that clipped the other post. Would he hit the bar before half-time, or save that for the second half? I wondered if Moses and Alonso would be able to push forward more, while realising that would be very risky.
In 51, Hazard sat down in the box as Umtiti stepped away from him. Silly boy! Stay on your feet! Turn round and take him on!
Conte’s approach seemed like a patient Italian plan: don’t lose, don’t over-commit in attack. It had worked so far. He knew that if Messi had scored an early goal it could have become a long night, perhaps a terminal one.
After a short corner on the left. Willian banged his shot past two players into the bottom corner. It’s a tremendously accurate low shot. Barca boss Valverde immediately replaced Paulinho with Aleix Vidal.
I was thinking: There’s only 20 minutes left. Will 70-90 be Messi time?
In 75, the Chelsea defence made a mistake.
When a Christensen pass went astray to Iniesta, the Catalan’s razor-sharp cutback found Messi, whose left foot shot arrowed into the bottom corner for 1-1.
Surgical pass, surgical shot. Even the great Courtois could not stop it.
Remarkably, this was Leo Messi’s first goal against Chelsea in his ninth game.
The contest fizzled out after that, really.
Chelsea had given Barcelona one opening and paid a high price.
And Barca are hot favourites for the second leg.
It might be another tight battle but few neutrals will fancy the Blues at the intimidating Nou Camp.
Veteran goalmaker Andres Iniesta,always a gentleman, said, “We know it will be difficult because they are playing for their season. They are one of the best teams in Europe, they have great players and this is the Champions League. In this competition any move or mistake can cost you a lot.”