Last night’s achievement by Chelsea ranks with the finest nights English teams have had in Europe, better than the 4-2 epic between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield at the quarter final stage in ‘08 and even greater than Liverpool’s victories over Chelsea themselves at the semi final stage in ‘05 and ’07. It just falls short of Liverpool’s heroics against Milan in Istanbul in the ’05 final mainly because that was a very poor Liverpool side spurred on by Steven Gerrard against all odds.
Nevertheless, knocking out the holders Barcelona, considered by many to be not only the best team in the world right now but the best of all time, ranks as the greatest night in their history.
Over the two legs many players impressed for Chelsea, Drogba outstanding in both legs and Chelsea’s main threat, Ivanovic for putting his body on the line time and time again, Peter Cech making crucial saves in both games, commanding his back four but more than anything his general presence a key factor in Lionel Messi’s penalty miss last night which was arguably the pivotal moment of the tie.
Ashley Cole also deserves special mention, Gary Neville said it in commentary that rarely does a right winger get the better of Cole. We have seen him stifle the great Cristiano Ronaldo during Ronaldo’s days as a wide player both international and domestically and last night’s performance surely secures his status amongst the greatest left backs to have played the game.
Credit also to Ramires for busting a gut to break forward from right back of all places and finish with the style and panache that his nationality suggests he should.
Let’s not forget Fernando Torres in all of this, he has endured a torrid time in a Chelsea shirt. Many players faced with a one on one situation in a game of that magnitude would have buckled under pressure but thankfully Torres didn’t. Last night he overcame adversity and achieved some sort of personal redemption.
We could make individual cases for all of them but essentially everyone of those Chelsea players were heroes, in the footballing sense of course.
For me though, one player stands out from the rest and that’s Frank Lampard, his contribution over the two legs was remarkable, guts, guile and willingness to drag Chelsea over the line. He frequently provided moments of quality over the two legs.
At Stamford Bridge, the pass to release Ramires which set up the cross for Drogba’s winner and last night a defence splitting pass which Ramires latched onto and finished with aplomb to turn last night’s second leg completely on it’s head.
Don’t forget he released Kalou with a wonderful ball in the second half and had there been a little more conviction and awareness on Kalou’s behalf, Chelsea could have been home and hosed earlier.
Lampard is thirty-three now and he has certainly made me rethink my stance on him. I think we have to get away from this habit of writing players off once they hit the thirty-two mark and then virtually retiring them once they hit thirty-four/thirty-five. If fit and influencing big games there’s no reason why players can’t play on until thirty-seven or thirty-eight, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are both cases in point.
A trend has set in, particularly within the English media of writing off older players and pushing young players, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the promotion of young players but only if they are better than what’s available.
Lampard’s experience and footballing nouse were to the fore yesterday evening and in terms of influencing big games, twice over the two legs, he split Barcelona’s defence setting up Ramires for an assist in the first leg and for the crucial away goal in the second.
More than anything else though, it was his leadership, bravery and general character that impressed me the most, particularly in the Nou Camp less than twenty four hours ago.
Take for example the first little tangle between Lampard and Cesc Fabregas who incidentally have a bit of history from the Spaniards Arsenal days. Fabregas had at the ball at his feet on the ground and Lampard had a right nibble at him, kicking at the ball trying to release it from under his feet. Fabregas reacted angrily as you would expect, Lionel Messi intervened and shoved Lampard and Sergio Busquets was knocking around the place as well.
But it was the intensity and look of aggression on Frank Lampard’s face that struck me and must of sent ripples through his Chelsea teammates. There was an even a look of shock on Fabregas’s face who is a chippy character at the best of times and well able to fight his corner.
Lampard followed that up by catching Fabregas late with a tackle in the middle of the park, he knew what he was doing and took the booking. I’m a great admirer of Fabregas, one of the best midfielders in world football and I would never condone a player injuring or attempting to inure another player, but that was not the case here, this was a case of Lampard making is mark and I swear, I almost made the tackle with him.
It was that commitment that saw Chelsea over the finish line, characterised by Lampard. He heads into the closing weeks of the season in fine fettle, with a great chance of completing a cup double of the FA Cup and Champions League. Who would of thought any of this was possible when under the management of Andre Villas Boas, Lampard found himself sat on the bench in Napoli, seeing his beloved Chelsea succumb to a 1-3 defeat in the first leg of their last 16 tie against Napoli.
Time and time again, Frank Lampard has fought his critics, he is regularly knocked but he always comes back fighting. Earlier this season, dropped by AVB, he responded with a crucial away goal at Valencia in the Champions League and scored four goals away at Bolton that weekend. This one of many examples of Lampard proving his doubters wrong which epitomises the character of the man. Let’s now hope he gets the recognition he deserves and lifts that Champions League trophy in Munich on May 19th.
danoneill1986 