And The Dream Lives On

Perhaps it was a phone call from the Special One to his Old Guard that managed to expose the weaknesses in arguably the greatest team on the planet.

Perhaps it was a special consultation with Brendan Rodgers, i.e. the man responsible for moulding a team in the English league (Swansea) to play what you would call the closest thing to 'tiki-taka' football, that gave them a rare insight into this particular philosophy of football.

Perhaps it was one long night too many of studying in detail match recordings of the rare La Liga matches where Barca have lost.

Or perhaps Di Matteo is really a leprechaun in disguise as an Italian.

Whatever the cause, it worked. Not perfectly, not without it's flaws. But it worked. 

The entire 90 minutes may have been nervy, shaky and needed a huge slice of good fortune from Lady Luck (and also 2 timely interventions by the faithful Stamford Bridge goalpost). But achieve the improbable they did. When the final whistle blew (to the relief of yours truly), Chelsea emerged victorious against favourites Barcelona, with a clean sheet and a goal advantage, to take to Nou Camp next week.

In doing so, Chelsea became the first team this season to have beaten Barcelona in the Champions League. In doing so, Chelsea continued their unlikely rennaisance under an interim manager whose job was to supposedly just 'steady the ship' until a proper manager would be found for the Blues in summer. In doing so, Chelsea kept their faint quest for Roman's Holy Grail, i.e. landing the European Cup, alive.

True, the game is never over, especially against Barcelona, until the final whistle of the 2nd leg blows. They may well end up getting whipped in the 2nd leg by an avalanche of goals, as most teams customarily do at Nou Camp, but at least until then, the dream is still alive and kickin'.

If Chelsea can pull off what many would call the impossible next week, then there is hope yet, for the rest of the world, that the tiki-taka can be stopped.

Perhaps it is Jose who needs to have a quick word or two with his former charges as he prepares to take on Barca in the upcoming el classico then ...