capriccioso

The only thing negative tonight was John Terry and his blood rush, and bookings for Ramires and Ivanovic for non footballing reasons. Everything else has enriched football.

Balancing the books, I'd imagine. The manager sacking business has cost us enormously. Roman needs to either start giving out 1 year deals or setting small compensation clauses.

All 3 of our goals were scored in stoppage time. U complacent, Barca?

No offence intended Dylan, but fuck off with that. Anti football is a losers excuse. Never mind that Jose started this whole blaming of parking the bus business while with us, it is a losers excuse. Did the Persians complain to the media that the Spartans employed 'anti-war' tactics at Thermopylae? Did the ANZAC's say "Hold up, Johnny Turk, how about you be a good sport and come out of those trenches?" at Gallipolli? Did all those smaller teams who visited Stamford Bridge in the last 18 months do any different? Why don't we all just make the goals 3 times as high and twice as wide, ban defending, tackling and marking altogether then? Defending is an integral, vital, fuck it, an all-consuming part of football. And we still scored 2 goals. The game was pulsating from start to finish, even neutrals started cheering for us so stirring was our rearguard action. Not one person would have switched off their television because of how we played, hell, most probably turned it on after we made it 2-1. Every child who saw that game today saw a display of sheer willpower, of never saying die, of never giving up no matter what the odds; they saw a performance of defiance where a vastly inferior team both numerically and skill wise said "Fuck all that, we will go out there and give this our very best". How on earth can that be bad? We have given hope to the little man, the little club all around the world. They will look at this heroic performance and be inspired, such was the gulf in class between the two teams. It's a timely reminder that even the biggest of giants can be felled by the most unlikely, the shittest, of teams. It's a reminder of how romantic football can be, of poetic justice and all that is good in the world. For one glorious night, all of football will know; a small team from Fulham, reduced to 10 men and with only 1 recognised centre back, down 2-0, with a caretaker in the role of manager, somehow held on against the greatest team of its generation and probably better than most that preceded it; one with an absolute galaxy of superstars that would walk into any XI on the planet. Make no mistake, this was probably one of the best games in football for the last few years. It has been nearly 8 years since the whole world was reminded, never ever write off the little guy. It was overdue. As Machiavelli once said, the ends always justify the means. In this case, both the means and the end were just perfect.

It was always Anelkalouda, Mikel and Bosingwa for the bandwagon. Wonder who we'll blame now that 4 of those 5 look like heading for the exit, with one already having left.

Anyway, if that was anti football, may every match in the future of football be played out exactly the same. Such entertainment, such compelling viewing, and so similar to that brilliant game back in 2010 when Inter did what we did.

Seconded

I agree with Kostas, he's been that good for years. Most people never valued the importance of keeping the ball safely so he was automatically a scapegoat.

Spanish media have the 'anti-football' claws out

Nothing will ever beat that.

Bit harsh to call them murderers. They weren't the sole reason for Heysel/Hills'bro.

What was he doing anyway? I can't bring myself to think that Red Nev is suddenly a Chelsea fan. Always had plenty of respect for him as a player, mind. Wore his heart on his sleeves. His celebrations in front of the Kop at Anfield were brilliant.

Bosingwa loves playing Barcelona. As a poster on the Barca forum said, his monobrow must scare them

For those who are interested, here are the heatmaps for every outfield player excluding Cahill and Terry: Cole: Ivanovic: Bosingwa: Ramires: Lampard: Mikel: Raul Meireles: Mata: Drogba: Kalou: Torres:

Here were our average positions after Terry was sent off. Cech was surprisingly high up the pitch:

Pele was not allowed to leave Brazil by the military junta. They declared him a national treasure and ruled that he must play for a Brazilian club. Besides, back then, Brazilian league football was light years ahead of UEFA football, which basically at the time had Real Madrid, Benfica and then bugger all.

Any news on how he's going? Looked like a hamstring twinge, that's got to hurt.

Can someone link me to the Neville orgasm? Sounds hilarious. Edit: Never mind. Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRLzgl6Aoww&feature=related

Will it? We have played by some distance our best football in this tournament when we've not been given a chance. I think that trend will continue, we have immense mental strength and sheer willpower could be enough to get us over the line. It certainly was tonight.

Hello Adam

He really has improved immensely since the sacking. I wonder if its because he knows he's not a guaranteed starter anymore? And he deserves to stay just because of those weird haircuts

What is a nomark, FB?

Hi-5! I cried (well, nearly) as well

Wow, I hope she's okay! Just watching that match had my heartrate above 150 beats a minute, imagine what listening to it would have been like!

Hard to choose the standout moment of the game. Ramires' goal, the way Drogba absolutely hurled Pique to the floor early on in the first half like he was a soft toy, Torres' goal, the great defensive performance, astonishing save after save from Cech, the penalty miss, the look of absolute fear on the face of Carles Puyol when Pique had to go off, the meltdown on RAWK, the Barcelona fans singing Cant El Barca after the final whistle with such passion, etc. I'll go with Kalou's bicycle clearance in the 70th or so minute