Barcelona Or Chelsea, Whose Revenge Is it Anyway?

Check the detailed preview of this mouthwatering clash here.

Catch TheHardTackle’s resident authors representing both Chelsea and Barcelona in a verbal duel here.

Chelsea And Barcelona Cross Paths Again

Roberto di Matteo’s Chelsea and Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona face off in a European Champions League clash billed as a long-awaited opportunity to settle some scores. Just who the aggrieved party is, in this cauldron of bruised egos and feelings, is however not so clear.

Conventional wisdom would have it that Chelsea are clearly the party that ought to feel wronged, after crashing out of the Champions League in 2009 at the hands of some really baffling decisions by referee Ai??Tom Henning Ovrebo. You’d be hard-pressed to deny the Blues their claim that injustice was meted out to them when most neutral post-match reports would indicate they could have done with around 3 penalty decisions in their favor.

Interestingly however, the mood in Barcelona’s camp and among its supporters is just as pregnant with feelings of being wronged.

Chelsea face Barcelona, as Chelsea look to avenge their crashing out of the Champions League at Barcelona's hands. Chelsea legend Lampard calls it unfinished business, while Messi will look to put all doubts about Barcelona's progression in 2009 to rest — Blues See Red As Ovrebo Dishes The Yellows

Chelsea v Barcelona

Barcelona Are Miffed Too, But Why?

And not without good reason ai??i?? the Catalans have spent the better part of the last decade being clearly the best club side in football. Their prominence on the European stage in recent times has been the stuff of legends, and Guardiola and his men have rewritten the playbook on how the game ought to be played. The only fly in the ointment, as far as Barcelona’s been concerned is that constant reminder of their progression at Chelsea’s cost, that has dogged the Catalans like a shadow since that day.

The Spanish champions understandably therefore, with their self-belief fueled by subsequent successes and all that silverware, want a final opportunity to face off against the same Chelsea side before age withers the latter into retirement. Barcelona are clearly gunning for the chance to slay the demons of that day in Stamford Bridge, to put to rest once and for all questions about the nature of just how they reached the finals of the Champions League in 2009.

Which is what makes all that talk of this being an exercise in vengeance, all the more puzzling. Both these sides can shut their eyes and pretend all they want that this is a redux of 2009, but it simply isn’t.Ai??Revenge may be a dish served cold, and deep rooted feelings of injustice might make for better viewership ratings for the game telecast, but this game is about as much a fair recreation of the 2009 clash as a Sicilian mob boss paying a visit to his long-retired rival at a nursing home would be.Ai??That might be an exaggeration, but you get the drift.

Chelsea v BarcelonaAi??

Chelsea’s Decline, Barcelona’s Rise

These are not two evenly matched sides ai??i?? or even sides on the same level. In 2009, Barcelona faced off against a Chelsea at the peak of its powers under the renaissance of Guus Hiddink. Three years later, Barcelona meet a Chelsea side comprised of aging legs and cracked ribs. How this qualifies as a rematch of 2009 is beyond comprehension.

When Frank Lampard, the most level-headed player in the Chelsea squad, calls the clash “unfinished business”, you know the mood in the Chelsea camp is likely to be aggressive. And that cannot be a good thing because Barcelona play excellent football against sides that come swinging wildly at them. Sides that try to attack Barcelona end up giving the Catalans the space they need to play their passing game to perfection.

That attitude isn’t going to be good for the game, or if you’re seeking a conclusion to Ovrebogate. If anything, both sides are likely to go out of their way to play atrocious hosts. You get the awful feeling that the pitch at Stamford Bridge is going to be dug up well enough to resemble alien crop circles, in a bid to stop Barcelona’s overall slickness. The grass will be allowed to grow until there’s a reasonable chance Lionel Messi will get lost in them.

In return for that favor, Barcelona are likely to call upon that famously skewed sense of tit-for-tat and ‘draw the foul’ ai??i?? a euphemism for going to ground at the first sign of Chelsea flexing their physical prowess. Barcelona’s PR department are likely to defend their actions with the usual trotting out of defenses that would help them play the victim ai??i?? from the excesses of the Franco regime to how physicality is killing the beautiful game.

(c)_lampard_flicker_bensutherland — Lampard Looking For A Swan Song

Chelsea v BarcelonaAi??Chelsea v Barcelona

Referees And Their Thankless Jobs

None of this is going to be good for the game, or for the referees’ general health, well-being and life spans. In a high profile encounter, with both sides still stuck in a mental rut from three years ago, the men in black have no room for error. Any decisions against Chelsea are likely to add insult to injury, and reopen old wounds. And any that go against Barcelona will be seen as a ham-handed attempt by UEFA officials to engage in retributive justice.

There’s no way the referees win in all of this. But as far as they’re concerned, as long as all talk of vengeance and revenge remains between the two sides and hasn’t morphed into calls for the officials’ heads, it’s still a decent day at the office.

Tags: Chelsea FC FC Barcelona

Barcelona Or Chelsea, Whose Revenge Is it Anyway?

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