A Lionel Messi free-kick won the match for Barcelona but their teamwork and sacrifice is what saw them past Atlético MadridDiego Simeone was sitting under the main stand at Europe’s largest stadium but for a moment, he was back in a playground 10,000km away. There two kids stand a few metres apart and edge towards each other, one step at a time, in turn, heel to toe, “bread” and “cheese” accompanying every tiny advance. Eventually one treads on the other – the winner now and, let’s face it, the winner in the game too.“Pan.” Related: Peter Stöger puts stamp on Dortmund to leave board with decision to make | Andy Brassell Related: Serie A pauses for Davide Astori then vows...
Chelsea stifled Barcelona’s key players, proving the Spanish side should not be so feared as they once wereThe first leg, you suspect, went just as Antonio Conte would have wanted it to go – apart from the bit about not playing a square ball across your penalty area to Andrés Iniesta with 15 minutes of a Champions League match remaining. But that is the problem with great tactical plans: they always rely, ultimately, on that most fallible of species: humans.Lionel Messi’s equaliser has tipped the tie Barcelona’s way, but Chelsea can draw great encouragement from the first leg and, having operated like the away side, can play the second in much the same way (another reason, incidentally, why the away...
The little genius changed the gravity of this tie with a piece of classic unforgiving skill to score his first goal against Chelsea, but until then the hosts had been a match for BarcelonaWith 11 minutes gone at Stamford Bridge Lionel Messi did his first extraordinary thing, picking up the ball in the centre circle at ambling speed, then flicking the switch on those waddling nitroglycerin jets. Pedro was shrugged away in conventional fashion. N’Golo Kanté was evaded with a jink.At which point Antonio Rüdiger made the mistake of panicking. Never panic around Messi. He wants you to panic. He smells your panic and runs right into it. As Rüdiger flailed out of the backline Messi didn’t so much dribble...
Chelsea’s hopes of upsetting Barcelona rest on Belgian but he may wonder if his best chance of achieving greatness is to moveThis week a clip emerged of three Barcelona players being confronted by a metal railing, with each of them choosing to deal with the obstacle in a different way. While Jordi Alba continued to mooch along the suggested route and Luis Suárez dealt with the inconvenience by jumping over it, Lionel Messi could be seen scurrying under the barrier, like a small child setting off on an adventure at passport control, weaving through the legs and dividing lines and leaving his parents in a state of bewildered panic. Related: Chelsea’s Conte confident of new Eden Hazard deal despite Real...
Only Barcelona and Atlético can match Eibar’s results over the last three months as another unlikely run at Europe continuesIván Ramis took off his shirt and put his hat on, a flat red porkpie perched on his head as he stood in the corner of Butarque where a couple of dozen Eibar fans down from the Ego valley were going wild in wigs: some red, some blue and some Scottish, ginger locks tumbling from tam o’ shanters. As he had flung his top high into the air before running towards them shouting, they had thrown the hat on the pitch; so he wore it, along with a smile that even the referee trotting over with a yellow card couldn’t wipe...