Originally posted by Erwin_Rommel:
Come on guys, watch from a neutral view...
Before he was sent off, Del Horno intentionally clipped Messi's knee hard after he had kicked the ball. That to me, was an instant red card offence. No arguments about that. Incredibly, he escaped unscath. In the red-card offence, Del Horno intentionally used his body to foul Messi to prevent him from running past both Robben and him. I would say that the offense deserved at least a yellow card even if a lenient referee were to referee the match. So Del Horno deserved to get sent off.
Puyol should be sent off in the 75th minute (I think) for his second bookable offence. But then seriously, the damage has already been done. Larsson, Messi and Ronaldinho were happily wrecking havoc in the Chelsea defence and only Terry's heroics prevented Barcelona from thrashing.
Mourinho could choose to play defensively, but he opted not to. Instead he gambled attcking with 10 men, which was initially a success. What Mourinho tried to do was to win in Stamford Bridge, and then go over to Nou Camp to play defensively for a draw (judging from Chelsea's away UCL form) to take them through to the next round. His gamble failed, so tood bad for him.
So ultimately, whether Chelsea fans like it or not, Barcelona deserved to win the match!
Agreed. Barcelona deserves to go through, not just based on the score, but the way they won the tie with some scintillating football. Too overly emphasized on determination and workrate makes a team boring to watch and too much flamboyant football may not get you the desired result, but combining determination and workrate together with flamboyant football is a perfect mix.
