Chelsea vs Barcelona

05/05/2009

This clash tonight sees Chelsea entertain Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. Barcelona have been credited with playing some of the best football in Europe this season. Their 6-2 annihlation of bitter rivals Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu at weekend did much to emphasise such points amongst the media. However, I’m not quite ready to jump on the bandwagon here. If anyone watched the game between Real Madrid and Barcelona at weekend, they’ll appreciate that only one of those goals came from good football. The rest simply came from defensive errors. It’s very easy for Barcelona to play the best football in Europe against some of the weakest defences, in my opinion. Whereas I certainly don’t doubt their vast ability, I do look at the fact that they’ve not scored against English opposition in Europe for 270 minutes, and that’s after having most of the ball in all of those games. What that tells me is that Barcelona struggle to score goals against English opposition. Why is that? Well, English clubs are far more tactically aware and physically stronger so Barcelona’s one-dimensional attack tends to come up against a brick wall. I hate to disrespect such a big club with great players, but effectively, they’re simply a better version of Arsenal. Arsenal can be stopped by clubs that put the correct tactics in place and sure enough, this is being utilised against Barcelona. However, what really throws Barcelona to the lions against Chelsea in my eyes is that fact that they’re missed experienced defenders Rafael Marquez and Carles Puyol. The Spaniards aren’t good defensively when their best players are in the squad, let alone when they’re not. Chelsea are a very well-organised squad with some very good players. Again, I fancy Barcelona to really struggle breaking them down. The only way I can see the visitors scoring is if they capitalise on a rare Chelsea mistake, score a set piece, or manage to obtain a penalty at somepoint. I think you’ll see Chelsea attack more in this game; let’s face it, they have to. Against such a meager defence, however, I don’t think it’ll take long for them to take one of their chances and then effectively just sit on it. Chelsea came under a lot of criticism in the English press for their tactics against the Catalans, but I’m not sure why that is. If Chelsea tried to play Barcelona at their game at the Nou Camp, they’d have been torn apart. Chelsea did what every other side would do out there – because it works! No matter how good your football is or how good your players are – people remember winners, not the side that play the best football. For me, this game really smarts of a 1-0 win for the hosts via a Drogba goal. Barcelona struggled to deal with crosses in Madrid at weekend and Real Madrid aren’t exactly the most potent in the air. I think Guus Hiddink will know this and utilise it. Set pieces and crosses are going to decide this game, in my opinion. I’m going to stay with 1-0, however – a first-half goal from Drogba and Barcelona controlling the ball after that and doing nothing with it unless they’re lucky. Bet of the day – Chelsea to win, draw no bet.

Wednesday’s Picks

My tips:

Unusually for a wednesday, there’s a whole host of games I like the look of! I’ve listed them in order of 4-team accumulators by the likelihood of success whilst trying to incorporate good value into each bet:

Chelsea, BATE Borisov, Rosenborg BK, HJK Helsinki
Start Kristiansand, Celje, Rapid Bucharest, Drava Ptuj
Naftan Novopolotsk, Dinamo Minsk, Brommapojkarna, Skonto Riga

For the complete picks listing, see below!

UEFA Champions League:

Chelsea vs Barcelona (7) 1-0, Drogba to score first-half

Belarusian Vysshaya Liga:

Dinamo Minsk vs FC Vitebsk (7) 2-1
FC Gomel vs MTZ-RIPO Minsk (7) 1-1
Dnepr Mogilev vs Shakhtyor Soligorsk (6) 1-1
FC Minsk vs Naftan Novopolotsk (8) 1-2
Dinamo Brest vs Torpedo Zhodino (6) 1-1
FC Smorgon vs Granit Mikashevichi (6) 0-0
BATE Borisov vs Neman Grodno (7) 2-0

Finnish Veikkausliiga:

HJK Helsinki vs IFK Mariehamn (8) 2-1

Latvian Virsliga:

Skonto Riga vs Olimps Riga (8) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
FK Jurmala vs Tranzits Ventspils (7) 2-0

Montenegrin Prva Liga:

Grbalj Radanovici vs Decic Tuzi (6) 1-0
Zeta Golubovci vs Sutjeska Niksic (6) 1-2
Lovcen Cetinje vs Buducnost Podgorica (8) 1-2
Rudar Pljevlja vs Mogren Budva (7) 0-1
Kom Podgorica vs Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje (5) 1-1
OFK Petrovac vs Jezero Plav (5) 1-0

Norwegian Tippeligaen:

Start Kristiansand vs Lillestrom (8) 2-1
Stromsgodset vs Aalesunds (6) 2-2
Bodo Glimt vs Staebek (7) 1-1
Molde vs Valerenga (7) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Sandefjord vs Viking Stavanger (6) 1-1
Lyn Oslo vs Rosenborg BK (8) 1-3

Romanian Liga:

Politehnica Iasi vs Arges Pitesti (6) 1-1
Rapid Bucharest vs CS Otopeni (8) under 2.5 goals
Vaslui vs Pandurii Targu Jiu (6) 0-0
Universitatea Craiova vs Gaz Metan Medias (7) 2-1
CFR Cluj vs Poli Timisoara (7) 1-0

Slovenian Prva Liga:

Nafta Lendava vs Maribor (7) 1-2
Primorje Ajdovscina vs Celje (8) 1-2
Drava Ptuj vs Interblock Ljubljana (7) 1-0
Domzale vs Gorica (6) 1-0
Rudar Velenje vs Koper (7) 2-1

Swedish Allsvenskan:

Hammarby vs Kalmar (7) 1-1
Orgryte IS Goteborg vs Brommapojkarna (8) 1-2

Enjoy your free betting tips!