BARCELONA LOSES SEMI FINAL OR THEIR ARROGANCE..?

Pep Guardiola's arrogant pre match conference before the 2nd tie declaring them to proceed to the next round actually did not work out on the field for La Blaugrana team. Jinx continued as  Barcelona becomes a victim of it this year as no Champions league winning team has ever retained its CROWN next year.

Why Barcelona actually drew the 2nd Leg and lost a place to Final..?

1st Half

• Started with a possibly very aggressive 3-4-3 formation did seem to be putting pressure on The Blues who had parked their bus in front of their Goal..

• 25th Min- PIQUE subs  DANI ALVES comes in due to injury to SHAKIRA's MAN.. Decisive moment.. a 3-4-3 For Barca couldnt have worked without Pique and Puyol. An Attack minded Wingback , a 34 yr old CB and a DM turned CB playing in a 3-4-3 formation at the back meant Chelsea would have grabbed a goal anyhow on a counter with a powerful striker in DROGBA playing upfront to bully them.

• 43 Min- After going 2-0 up. Tactically should have switched to 4-3-3 by pushing Busquets back till the Half time maybe thats what Guardiola was saying to Dani Alves when he called him to give instructions but the Catalan giants failure to switch formation resulted in an unexpected GOAL from RAMIRES.

2nd Half

• 49th Min- A crucial Penalty miss. MESSI has a pretty average record when it comes to PENALTY. Had already missed 7 this season prior to this match. Looked a shade of himself. Could SANCHEZ or INIESTA had taken it or FABREGAS.?? Barcelona are in  no ways short of PENALTY takers.

Subs : 

• ALEXIS SANCHEZ is great when it comes to dribbling and trickery but at times becomes too much of just Trickery no end product. 
• Could have been better if PEDRO had started..? or subs for CUENCA or SANCHEZ as they looked ineffective in 2nd Half..
• Introduction of KEITA when Barcelona needed a goal to stay alive was mind baffling. ALCANTARA might have been a better choice.

P.S. As rightly said by TORRES " The BEST TEAM doesnt always WIN " just proved to be quite right on NOU CAMPS turf.

football on mind: Two Finals before the real Final at Wembley for Re...

football on mind: Two Finals before the real Final at Wembley for Re...: "Ridng on a crucial and comfortable away win against FC Schalke at Veltins-Arena ,United are on course to another dream final at Wembley aft..."

Two Finals before the real Final at Wembley for Red Devils

Ridng on a crucial  and comfortable away win against FC Schalke at Veltins-Arena ,United are on course to another dream final at Wembley after losing to bitter neighbouring rivals City in FA cup semi final at Wembley a week ago. With only a miracle and United's complacency which can cause a real upset along with Raul can only land Schalke into a dream Wembley final which seems more and more unlikely.

Now Sir Alex Ferguson the old fox's vision have fallen on two most crucial premier League matches which could provide a ray of hope to Arsenal and most importantly to Chelsea in their pursuit of defending their Barclays Premier League crown after there recent surge following an unlikely long poor run in games after an explosive start to the season.

So United face two challenges before heading to the UEFA champions league final and its not Schalke which stands against them in either of the matches. Its Arsenal at Emirates and Chelsea at Old Trafford. These two games can wrap up the title for them or open up the wrapper for grabs for Chelsea and Arsenal too.

These two fixtures have come as finals before the actual Champions League final Man United play at Wembley if they can see of Schalke at their home turf in the 2nd leg tie. The defeat against neighbouring rivals City may have come as a blessing in disguise as challenging on all three fronts might have takeln a toll on the Man United squad or may have costed them more important matches in Champions League or record 19th Premier League title pursuit.

Seeing of Arsenal and Chelsea will be like coming up against two back to back finals with Chelsea still having fresh wounds of their Champions league defeat from the hands of their English rivals in both the ties. It might be the most of the opportunity for Carlo Ancelotti to make up with the Premier League crown to quench Blues owner Roman Abramovich's  Champions League obsession and make up a case to save his job at the Bridge which also seems unlikely.