Chelsea hold Barcelona to goalless draw

Updated on: 29 April,2009 09:49 AM IST |
AFP |

Barcelona unhappy with refereeing but Chelsea upbeat after restricting the Catalans in the first leg

Barcelona unhappy with refereeing but Chelsea upbeat after restricting the Catalans in the first leg

Barca's Thierry Henry (left) gets pulled down in the penalty area by Jose Bosingwa. PICS/AP, AFP

Chelsea went away with mission accomplished after they stood firm against a barrage from Barcelona at the Camp Nou and become the first side this season in the competition to stop Barca from scoring at home.

Petr Cech made a couple of important blocks from Samuel Eto'o and substitute Alexandr Hleb but too often they were restricted to strikes from distance.

"It is difficult to play against a team which doesn't want to play football," stormed Guardiola.

"It was a game in which Chelsea had five defenders and the ball was always Cech to Didier Drogba and then backwards and forwards again."

Fair result
"The result was fair, though, because neither side scored but there is something wrong when we ended up with the same number of yellow cards as they did and yet they committed 20 fouls compared to seven.

"I thought it was scandalous that Ballack did not receive a second yellow card for a foul on Iniesta on the edge of the area," said Guardiola.

Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink, though, praised the character of his players for the way they stood firm and prevented Barca's star-studded forward line from scoring.

"This was a good result but the tie is not decided yet and we have another very hard game ahead of us.

"It was not an easy match to play and we will have to improve in some areas for the next game but overall I am happy as we defended very well," said Hiddink

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels