This article was written on the 15th of March 2018
I woke up this morning expecting to read a statement from Roman Abramovich or the board not because I thought it was necessary but because it had become the norm at Stamford bridge, the Russian Boss didn’t wait for Roberto Di Mateo to return from Turin after losing to Juventus in November 2012 before he was sacked, it was as if they expected the Italian to go home from there since he was already in Italy, thank God the Nou camp is not in Italy.
The 3-0 scoreline is not a good reflection of the game, yes this cannot be overstated but Chelsea fans have more to mourn other than the scoreline, they are out of the Champions league, and the fact that Messi seems to have mastered the act of scoring against the blues now – a feat that seemed alien just over three weeks ago is not exactly comforting.
On one side, one would think that Conte must have tried his best, we really can’t compare the Chelsea squad to that of their Spanish counterparts, I mean if choice defenders were signed Christensen with all due respect should not be playing at this stage now not because he is not good enough but because we have better defenders on the bench of Barcelona, Real Madrid et al couple with the fact that if Alonso’s kick had tilted just a few inches to the left we would have had an entirely different second half.
But on the other hand if not that the English Champions fell into the trap of Barcelona I think the score line might have been different and so also the team progressing. Immediately after Messi’s first goal we saw his team defending which brought Chelsea out to look for their much needed goal or goals but this move didn’t result to Chelsea hitting the back of the net instead it gave the Iniesta lead team the opportunity to score the goals they wouldn’t have been able to had the blues maintained their defensive approach they used three weeks ago.
In the end it’s three un-replied goals to Barca and no wonder Conte did what he did against Manchester city be that as it may the Italian may not be the only change ringing in when the summer approaches.