In a game where no amount of superlatives could do justice to the drama that unfolded, Chelsea somehow found a way to upset Barcelona and clinch a place in the Champions League final in a game that truly had it all.
From the moment of madness that saw Chelsea captain John Terry sent off for lashing out at an opponent to the English side’s remarkable effort with 10 men.
The epic choke from the best player in the world to the shocking reality that Barcelona’s season is effectively over.
It was all tension from the two occasions when only the woodwork and fortune could keep Barca at bay to the dramatic finale when Fernando Torres repaid his record price tag with one flick of his right foot.
Barca was left stunned by this, scarcely able to fathom the hand fate had dealt them. Messi, so often the architect of others’ heartache, was the victim himself this time, burying his head in his shirt at the end in the knowledge he had underperformed when it mattered most.
The Spanish club, defending champions, could barely have imagined a scenario where they allowed themselves to be denied at their own fortress of the Camp Nou, by a shorthanded opponent no less.
But denied they were, by a Chelsea team that simply refused to die and clinched a 2-2 draw in this semifinal second leg to advance to the final through 3-2 on aggregate.
When Terry was red-carded for the idiotic decision to knee Alexis Sanchez in the back of the leg late in the first half, Chelsea, already behind 1-0 thanks to Sergio Busquets’ opener, seemed doomed. That likelihood apparently turned into a certainty minutes later as Andres Iniesta added another and sent the Camp Nou rocking.
However, a brilliant chip from Brazil’s Ramires just before the break gave Chelsea a lifeline, even if would mean hanging on grimly for an entire half. Yet that is what they managed, repelling wave after wave of Barcelona attacks that became increasingly frantic.
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