It was a slow start and a frantic finish between Chelsea and Barcelona in the Champions League Round of 16, as it took an hour for the match to see its first goal as Chelsea took a deserved lead. They couldn’t hold onto it, though, and Barcelona will be happy to leave England with a 1-1 draw and an away goal in hand.
The match started slowly, with Chelsea setting up to grind the game out a bit tactically, and Barcelona’s setup playing more or less right into their hands. Willian actually had two fantastic scoring chances in the first half that had Barcelona’s defense and goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen completely beaten, but both of his shots clanged off the post to leave the match scoreless going into halftime.
The second half was much more active, though, with Chelsea taking the lead at the hour mark when Willian finally found the back of the net, converting off a short corner kick when Barcelona left him alone at the top of the box for way too long, giving him time to step aside and pick his shot, firing low into the corner with a fantastic finish. That goal forced Barcelona into action, and while it took them time to get rolling, they finally started to pick holes in Chelsea’s game plan, especially when they started focusing on a shaky Andreas Christensen.
A pair of Chelsea mistakes, from Christensen and Cesc Fabregas, allowed Barcelona to score an equalizer, excellently finished by Lionel Messi after a counter-attack left Chelsea scrambling and disorganized thanks a bad pass by Fabregas and a terrible read from Christensen. That allowed Messi all the time and space he needed and then some — and you really, really don’t want to give Messi time and space in the box, especially when he then scores an away goal in a Champions League tie.
The result favors Barcelona slightly, who will be very happy to have a draw and a tie-breaking away goal in hand after this match. It was a tough match for the visitors, who were largely out-worked by Chelsea throughout the match, but they took full advantage of their best chance to score in the match, where Chelsea were a little unlucky not to have scored more goals earlier in the game.
Chelsea: Thibaut Coutois; Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger; Victor Moses, Cesc Fabregas (Danny Drinkwayer 84’), N’Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso; Willian, Eden Hazard, Pedro (Alvaro Morata 83’)
Goals: Willian (62’)
Barcelona: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Gerard Pique, Samuel Umtiti, Jordi Alba; Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets; Paulinho (Aleix Vidal 63’), Andres Iniesta; Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi
Goals: Messi (75’)
Three things we saw
Chelsea’s game plan worked well, even if it was a bit dull
When Chelsea lined up in the same kind of 3-4-3 formation and tactical setup they’ve struggled with lately, many questioned what Antonio Conte was thinking. But against Barcelona’s very narrow formation, it was actually a brilliant bit of game planning, and it worked to perfection to keep Chelsea on top of the match tactically.
With Barcelona largely eschewing wide players outside of occasional runs up from their fullbacks in order to focus on central possession and slashing runs from behind Luis Suarez up top, Conte’s 3-4-3 was the perfect counter. It allowed Chelsea to rotate players around in midfield to jam up Barcelona’s passing lanes, and consistently forced Barcelona to consistently take the less desirable option in any given situation.
What it was not, however, was exciting to watch. It was very smart, tactical football, but it also meant that the pace of the match slowed considerably. However, Conte and Chelsea will only care about the away goal they gave up and the defensive miscues that created it. Chelsea executed their game plan very well up until that moment
Willian was dominant, but so unlucky
Often overshadowed by other players on the pitch, Willian is frequently overlooked for the incredible player he is. On Tuesday, though, he showed off just how damn good he can be, standing out as the best player on the pitch for long stretches of the match. Almost all of Chelsea’s best attacking moves went through him, and Willian had Marc-Andre Ter Stegen completely beaten in goal twice in the first half off sequences that had looked completely broken down and wasted just seconds before he got on the ball.
Unfortunately, both of those first half shots clanged off the posts just inches from being goals, leaving the match scoreless and with Willian without anything concrete to show for his efforts. But he kept on dominating the night, and he finally got to celebrate just past the hour mark when he scored from the top of the box of a corner kick with a brilliant finish.
More people need to start paying attention to just how damn good Willian is, because he doesn’t get anywhere near enough acknowledgement of his quality.
The referee should have taken more control of the match
Many referees tend to take a bit of a step back in matches like this one between two huge clubs, seemingly because they don’t want their decisions to mar such a “big occasion.” But Turkish referee Cuneyt Çakιr may have taken a little too much of a step back, because several players on both sides of the pitch were taking liberties with the freedom he was giving, none more so than Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic.
In fact, Rakitic probably shouldn’t have made it to halftime without being sent off. He earned a yellow card for a tactical foul in the 28th minute, and less than 10 minutes later he scythed down N’Golo Kante with a late challenge that missed the ball and caught him a bit high. It wasn’t a clear red card tackle from Rakitic — it fell into that “orange” card territory where it’s worse than most yellow cards, but not quite a clear-cut red — but it still should have easily seen Rakitic sent off considering he was already booked.
But even if Çakιr didn’t want to mar the match by sending someone off so early, Rakitic had another yellow card-worthy tackle just before halftime, giving him three in just 45 minutes of action. It was a shockingly poor display from the Croatian midfielder, who is normally a more controlled player than he showed throughout the match on Tuesday, and Çakιr failing to properly punish him lead to a number of rash challenges that could have ended with injuries and marred the match at times.
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