LDN Blue

So that's 6 consecutive games that Barcelona have failed to beat us. Furthermore, they've also never turned a first-leg defeat deficit. The odds are in our favour.. Dare we dream?

ChelseaTV say Drogba starts

I'd just love the reality shock he's going to get when he realises he won't be the star at Barca and will lie in Messi's shadow. The man who forced out Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Ibrahimovic & Villa.

:cfc:

I really think Torres is suited for this match more than Drogba. I'd play Drogba at the Nou Camp though.

It's potentially Cole, Terry, Lampard & Drogba's last chance to grab a Champions League Medal before joining that list of great players never to win it. They have to play their hearts out, give us Drogba from Sunday and we can get a result. In 4-2-3-1 we trust

I think Cahill will be fine with Terry next to him.

Mine was Schmeichal Sagna - Adams - Terry - Cole Ronaldo - Makelele - Scholes - Giggs Zola - Henry

Fat Dowd, wahey. Would rather have Webb, he hates Liverpool. Being a United fan and all that is.

- Laurent Blanc

I read somewhere it was a toss up between Milner/Barry or Lampard for Ranieri. Thank f'ck he didn't tinker around with that decision

Yeah but you just know we won't capitalise. We've had so many opportunities to grab this race for third by the neck and each time we blow it. If we'd have just beaten Tottenham in the league we'd be in such a favourable position at the moment with Arsenal this weekend and Newcastle coming up. Sigh, hindsight

The most impressive thing I see with Bale is that pace with control. It's very rare to find players who can just about do both, let alone excel in it as Bale does. For all of Ramires' pace, his dribbling and control isn't his best asset.

I'm of the naive pool of people who believe we should retain our best players ahead of profit. That being said I'm concious of the fact Real would want someone like Ivanovic, so £12million is a ridiculous sum, but realistic because this club doesn't do high-profile sales.

We shouldn't even be thinking 'loan.' With Drogba leaving, Torres being our Di Santo & Sturridge either on the wing/leaving.. We should gamble on this one to lead our attack instead of spending atrocious amounts on someone like Cavani who we might not even be able to secure without CL football.

Ramires' goal epitomises my point that Harry lost the game when he took Van Der Vaart off and left that midfield far too exposed.

Indeed, couldn't agree more. He's been very good in the important games this season, it's adding a good gloss to his farewell season. But we shouldn't let this gloss blind us of the simple fact Drogba is a hindrance to anyone looking to take up that CF role. I'm not even talking about Torres, just anyone really. Because Drogba is plan B, and with Drogba at plan B it means an excuse to include Essien, Lampard & Cole in the squad simply because it works now & then.

As FrancoZola rightly points out, we showed immense resilience to back Torres through this horrendous spell he's going through, but we're allowing it because we know what he used to be capable of etc. It's very unfair we don't show the same attitude with Sturridge. Yes he can be frustrating at times, but at the beginning of the season we loved it. We encouraged it, fed off it and were almost mesmerized as to why it took so long for him to get a place in this squad. Sturridge is brilliantly talented, you can literally play the worst ball to him and he'll attempt to making it work with his persistence not to let it phase him if he doesn't score. He showed at Bolton he's more than capable of playing CF. Himself & Davies produced a great attacking duo, he's not as selfish as is being made out (though I'm under no illusion he's not). He's said he doesn't mind playing on the wing, as long as he's playing, but it's my belief he's struggling to making these passes we expect because he's been forced out there and is trying to make an impact. Can he blamed? Absolutely not. He's young, hungry, has international ambitions and it just keen to play. Especially after seeing Mr. Ancelotti favour Kalou. Kalou, for all his lack of football intelligence, back tracks very well. Granted. But I think Sturridge's omission of late's been really harsh on a kid just trying to do the best he can where he's deployed.

I think Willian was just a January 'take it or leave it' offer. I don't imagine us going back for him, particularly because André isn't here now.

Yeah exactly. "home of English football" that went 2x over budget not to mention it took like 5 or years longer than originally planned. Nothing went right with this stadium, nothing. The pitch took resurfaces upon resurfaces to get right, then they can maintain the pitch because the other events that Wembley host ruin it all over again! It's not even that good looking ffs. The arch is an eyesore now, before it was like 'yeah it looks alright, and the lights are quite cool' and now it's like 'you spent almost £800m on THIS?'

Back when a cross-London rivalry meant something

I blame the FA. What did they expect would happen in a 6pm kick off? That fans would wait patiently. Drunk disorder was always going to take place, wrong time for a minute of silence imo.

Wigan fill me with no confidence, Arsenal will probably win 3-2.

John Terry would do the same, and we would support it.

Props to Di Natale!