Amid the chaos created by a captain’s insane indiscipline, Chelsea’s Incredibles emerged on Tuesday night.
This was a group of players who somehow survived for 54 minutes in the absence of the dismissed John Terry and secured their passage to the Champions League final; a team who stopped a Barcelona side that had already scored 102 goals at home this season before this semi-final began.
In doing so, they joined the ranks of the European greats.
It was not just the loss of Terry that presented them with a problem. It was not just that, with only 10 men, they were facing the finest team the world has ever seen. It was the fact they triumphed without a single centre half on the pitch, having already lost Gary Cahill to injury.
Manager Roberto Di Matteo was whistling when he walked through the media zone shortly after the final whistle, cool as you like.
But an Italian — who might just lose the ‘interim’ part of his job title before long — had masterminded an astonishing victory.
It was a performance that might have superseded Manchester United’s display on this same Nou Camp pitch in 1999, when they beat Bayern Munich in the final. It might even have been the most extraordinary contest witnessed in this competition.
By the end Di Matteo had organised his side in a 6-3 formation, with Salomon Kalou doubling up alongside Ramires at right back and Fernando Torres sitting outside Ashley Cole at left back. Want to know how to cope with Barcelona’s big pitch? Just play four full backs.
That Ramires and Torres also scored Chelsea’s goals made it all the more memorable and that bit more special. The first came from the Brazilian just before the interval when it seemed Barcelona were on the road to Bavaria, while Torres added the coup de grace in second-half stoppage time.
Together with Terry, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles, Ramires will miss the final because of the booking he received here last night. But that did not stop him sprinting the full length of the field, from his new position in the makeshift back-four, to run on to a pass from Frank Lampard before sending a quite brilliant chip over the advancing Victor Valdes and into the net.
It was amazing. It was Roy Keane — who missed that 1999 final — in a Chelsea shirt. It was enough to make grown men cry.
When Chelsea fans who were here share their recollections of the night, they will reflect on that moment in the context of the 10 or so dramatic minutes that came before.
Chelsea had done well to limit Barcelona to one decent chance in the opening half an hour, with Petr Cech denying Lionel Messi after the best player on the planet had executed a marvellous one-two with Cesc Fabregas.
But it was looking ominous for the visitors the moment they lost Cahill to injury after only 12 minutes, forcing Di Matteo to deploy Jose Bosingwa on the flank and move Ivanovic to centre half.
In those 10 first-half minutes, though, Chelsea appeared to collapse and capitulate.
It started when Sergio Busquets met a neat cross from Isaac Cuenca to score, continued two minutes later when Terry mindlessly drove his knee into the leg of Alexis Sanchez and concluded with Andres Iniesta dropping off the right shoulder of Ramires — now at right back thanks to the need to switch Bosingwa to centre-half — to collect a wonderful pass from Messi before slipping his shot beyond the reach of Cech.
Surely it was game over. Surely Barcelona would succeed only in building on their lead and leave Terry to reflect on yet more Champions League misery — a penalty for his madness to add to the penalty he missed in Moscow.
But then came the comeback of comebacks — a defiant fight for survival that will strike fear into whichever side they meet in Munich on May 19.
The goal from Ramires nearly counted for nothing when, two minutes after the break, Fabregas appeared to dive after a challenge from Didier Drogba in the penalty area and Messi was invited by referee Cuneyt Cakir to score from the spot. But Messi had never scored in seven previous meetings with Chelsea and that record was extended to eight when his effort crashed off Cech’s bar and bounced to safety.
Even then, it only seemed a matter of time before the Catalans would score again.
Sanchez had one goal ruled out for offside, while Messi was denied by the brilliance of Cech when the Chelsea goalkeeper diverted another shot against a post.
That Di Matteo’s makeshift side survived a further 43 minutes after Messi’s penalty miss was remarkable, but it was the product of serious hard graft and intense concentration — defending at its finest.
In front of the defensive line stood three midfielders in Frank Lampard, Meireles and John Mikel Obi who battled every bit as courageously, demonstrating exactly why this Barcelona team do not like playing against them.
That Chelsea scored a second goal was irrelevant in the end, even if it did add to the joy for the visitors and the despair for the hosts.
Torres must have loved it, though, racing clear in pursuit of a ball forward from Ivanovic before casually taking it around Valdes and scoring into an empty net.
Di Matteo had said his side would need to produce ‘two perfect performances’ to win this semi-final, but not even he would have envisaged this.
Take a bow, Chelsea’s Incredibles.
By MATT LAWTON
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