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...
Connor Goldson and Ethan Ampadu showed their worth, Mauricio Pellegrino’s taxigate sympathy and Coventry must not be forgottenThe Dozen: the weekend’s best FA Cup photosAmid the focus on Brighton’s first quarter-final appearance for 32 years and an impressive first outing for Jürgen Locadia, Chis Hughton was keen to hail one of his team’s more unsung heroes. Connor Goldson scored a well-directed header in the first half and it was the centre-back’s first goal since returning from surgery on a heart defect, which ruled him out of the closing months of their promotion season. This was Goldson’s sixth appearance of this campaign; Hughton hoped to loan him to Ipswich in August but could not source appropriate cover and the 25-year-old, far...
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...
The striker, signed by Chelsea from Arsenal last month, has a physical presence and is a good foil for Eden HazardSquint a little as Chelsea dispatched West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge and at times it was as though the champions’ attack was doing a slightly rattly impersonation of its old self, regenerated around a really handsome, well-groomed half-speed Diego Costa.There has been a degree of scoffing at the last-ditch harpooning of Olivier Giroud during the January transfer window. The suggestion has been that Arsenal’s reserve striker is in some sense a sub-Chelsea signing, a gloss on otherwise stalled ambition. This is, of course, unfair on Giroud, who is still France’s number one No 9 and who provided an illuminating...
From Juventus and Spurs’ intriguing battle to Chelsea’s forbidding meeting with Barcelona and a likely stroll for Bayern, we look over all eight last-16 matchupsTuesday, St Jakob-Park and Wednesday 7 March, Etihad Related: New era edges closer as Tottenham seek to draw a line under austerity years | David Hytner Related: Antonio Conte will not resign as pressure builds on Chelsea manager Continue reading...