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= Chelsea vs Barcelona: Champions League Semi-Final 2012 = The first semi-final of the 2012 Champions League was played between Chelsea F.C. and FC Barcelona. Chelsea beat Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate to progress to the final of the Champions League, eventually going on to win the tournament beating FC Bayern Munich.

Background
Languishing 6th in the domestic league race, Chelsea had been suffering one of their worst seasons since Roman Abrahimovic's takeover in 2003. In stark contrast to Chelsea's faltering form, Barcelona were enjoying one of the most successful spells the world of football has ever seen. Having already scored a 102 goals that season, Barcelona had revolutionized football with the introduction of Tiki-Taka football. They were dominating European football. On paper it was the biggest mismatch and Chelsea were given odds of 100:1 for the tie.

Line-ups and squads
Chelsea went into the tie with several key members missing through injuries and suspensions. Barcelona had their entire first team available to choose from.

Chelsea FC squad: Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Ramires, Frank Lampard, Juan Mata, Didier Drogba, John Obi Mikel, Raul Meireles, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Ross Turnbull, Michael Essien, Fernando Torres, Florent Malouda, Jose Bosingwa, Salomon Kalou, Daniel Sturridge.

FC Barcelona Squad: Victor Valdes, Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas, Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Alexis Sanchez, Lionel Messi, Javier Masceranho, Sergio Busquets, Isaac Cuenca, Jose Pinto, Dani Alves,Thiago Alcantara, Seydou Keita, Pedro Rodriguez, Adriano, Cristian Tello.

First Leg: Wednesday 18th April, 2012
The first leg of the tie was played at Stamford Bridge, the home ground of Chelsea FC. Didier Drogba's goal in first-half added time separated the sides as Alexis Sánchez and Pedro hit the woodwork for the holders.

Barcelona kicked off and immediately signposted what kind of night it could be for Chelsea by keeping hold of the ball for 76 seconds. Even then the first touch by a blue shirt was halted by an infringement. A long clearance by Petr Cech raised the home team's hopes, Drogba catching Carles Puyol off guard but overrunning the ball.

Barcelona's first real threat arrived in the ninth minute, Sanchez timing his run perfectly to collect a through pass from Andres Iniesta. The forward lifted the ball over the goalkeeper but was denied by the crossbar. Chelsea replied with a Gary Cahill long throw that caused confusion but the ball would not drop for John Terry. The visitors preferred the more scenic route to goal, Lionel Messi's run winning him valuable space. Iniesta's shot was parried by Cech but Cesc Fabregas sliced his follow-up and Chelsea breathed again.

Messi was appearing in fits and starts but every intervention set off alarms in the home defence. From Sanchez's cross he stretched Cech with a header. Close to half-time his prodded pass released Fabregas but although a dinked effort beat the goalkeeper, Ashley Cole was there to clear. Chelsea would have been happy to reach the break on level terms but it got better than that. Frank Lampard switched play magnificently to send Ramires haring away down the left. He spied Drogba free inside the area and the pass was dispatched first time past Víctor Valdes for the Ivorian's third goal in five games against these opponents.

The goal clearly stung the reigning champions and they began the second half by extending Cech once more, the goalkeeper diving to his left to keep Adriano off the scoresheet. Messi was now more involved and twice Cahill made timely interceptions. Chelsea had another let-off in the 57th minute when Messi scooped a delicate pass to Sanchez behind the defence, but the ball got stuck under the Chilean's feet and the shot went wide.

Chelsea were unable to relieve the pressure for long. The visitors won several free-kicks in dangerous positions outside the penalty area but none came to anything as the wall held firm. With three minutes left Cech came to the rescue again. Messi's free-kick was floated this time and nodded on by Puyol but the goalkeeper was equal to it. The Chelsea stopper was beaten by Pedro's low shot deep into added time but the left-hand post came to his rescue and, when Sergio Busquets sent the rebound high over the bar, Chelsea's slender advantage was secure.

Second Leg: Tuesday 24th April, 2012
The second leg of the tie was played at the home ground of the Catalonians, Camp Nou. Trailing 2-0 and down to ten men, the visitors hit back with a wonder-goal and a remarkable rearguard action to reach the final, Fernando Torres sealing it in added time.

The writing looked on the wall for the visitors when, having had their 1-0 first-leg lead wiped out by Sergio Busquets, captain John Terry was sent off on 37 minutes. Andres Iniesta promptly put Barcelona in front on aggregate, only for Ramires to return Chelsea to the box seat before half-time and, despite Lionel Messi hitting the woodwork twice, once from a penalty, in the second period they held on until Torres confirmed progress.

By the time the breakthrough goal came in this extraordinary game Petr Cech had already pulled off a fine one on one save from Messi, both Gerard Pique and Gary Cahill had departed with injuries and the crowd had roared their throats hoarse. Isaac Cuenca forced the first goal, taking a pass from substitute Daniel Alves and cutting the ball across perfectly for Busquets to steer it past Cech.

The keeper was causing his own attacking problems with his long clearances to lone frontman Didier Drogba, but Terry's departure after an off-the-ball incident involving Alexis Sanchez provided more immediate concern. The tide of pressure and opportunities, already ferocious, looked set to overwhelm Roberto Di Matteo's team. No matter how hard Chelsea worked, there seemed to be two or three Barcelona players around them harassing and then combining with crisp passing movements.

From that came the second goal. Busquets turned the ball over in midfield and freed Sanchez, who rolled it into the path of Messi on the run. The forward has 63 goals to his name this season but when he saw Iniesta better placed he had only one thing in mind, teeing up his team-mate to calmly curve the ball into the Chelsea net.

It takes special stuff to be trailing 2-0, down to ten men and still conjure a response. As he had done just before half-time in London last week Frank Lampard ventured forward, found space and clipped a perfect pass to Ramires. The Brazilian displayed sangfroid of which Pelé or Romario would have been proud, deftly lobbing over the advancing Víctor Valdes.

Any expectation that the wind might be taken from Barcelona's sails was dispelled almost immediately after the restart. Drogba's trip on Cesc Fabregas brought a penalty but while Cech feinted to go this way and that, Messi smashed his effort against the crossbar. Chelsea's attempts to repel any further danger were heroic, trying to compensate for Terry's absence.

Messi was not prepared to depart the competition meekly and late in the game he cracked in a firm shot that Čech touched against the base of his post – it just was not to be. To cap it all, substitute Torres sprinted clear as Barcelona sought the winner, rounding Valdés and finding the net. Chelsea were on their way to Munich.