PINCH yourself – it happened.
With 10 men for most of the game, against 80 per cent possession and complete with a Lionel Messi penalty miss – Chelsea eliminated Barcelona from the Champions League.
Chelsea now head for a final in Munich in a month's time, in which they will take to the field without four of the men they started with tonight.
A red card for John Terry , for kneeing Sergio Busquets in the back off the ball, let down his team dreadfully.
They managed to hold on, and even secure an injury-time winner to the tie, but not without yellow cards that will keep Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles out of that game too.
Roberto Di Matteo obviously had the belief his 1-0 first-leg winners were up to the job in hand - he chose exactly the same starting XI for this second leg.
Pep Guardiola had a reshuffle, dropping Dani Alves, and starting with Alexis Sanchez in the centre forward position – something many said he should have done at Stamford Bridge.
Blues had a couple of early scares: a steaming run from Lionel Messi ended with the rippling of the side netting and Ashley Cole was again forced to perform one of his trademark off-the-line clearances.
Gary Cahill, attempting a defensive block, appeared to pull his hamstring. Di Matteo went as far as scheduling Jose Bosingwa to come on – but the England man insisted he was OK, and played a few more minutes before eventually the change had to be made.
The game stuttered, as Chelsea attempted to interrupt the home side's flow. Yet, as with the first match, the Blues defence had to be on their game when Barcelona struck; a double block – first from Petr Cech's legs, then from Terry – proved they were.
The home side's possession in some five-minute periods cannot have been far below 100 per cent. Then Terry's moment of madness struck. Off the ball, he appeared to knee Sanchez in the back: straight red, and few complaints. If Chelsea were up against it with 11 men, they simply couldn't cope with 10. First Isaac Cuenca played in Busquets for the opener, and shortly after Messi crossed past the face of the goal for Andres Iniesta to slide in. Just as this looked like switching to a job of damage limitation, the hosts had their own moment of defensive madness, Ramires running on to a Frank Lampard pass and chipping the Victor Valdes. Things started badly for Chelsea in the second half. Giving away a soft penalty, it looked to be all over. Yet, somehow, Messi contrived to hit the bar. Barcelona dominated with a force met only with the brick wall of Chelsea's back line. Somehow, the snowball in hell, was remaining cool. Time and time again, Barcelona attacks were blocked. Almost all of the final 25minsutes were played in Chelsea's final 20 yards. And then, deep into injury time, sub Fernando Torres picked up a loose ball – and he ran. He ran at Valdes, he ran around Valdes, and and he put Chelsea into the Champions League final. Impossible to watch in large swathes of the game: Chelsea fans will not care. But, with the odds stacked against them already for the final, this may well be their biggest achievement of the season. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest Chelsea news.
