Gone In Nine Days - All Hopes Of A Spectacular Barcelona Collapse

Everything had been set. The cast has been decided, the script needed only the last line, the director was all too eager to start on with the movie and the choreographer was buoyant.

On Tuesday last they had hatched this idea of making one of the most scintillating movies ever. Entitled as "Gone In Nine Days- Barcelona's Nine Months of Galactic Football", the movie was supposed to showcase the biggest and most spectacular collapse in football history. True, weekend's action had altered the plot to a less dramatic tone, but still until the 93rd minute of the match between Chelsea and FC Barcelona on Wednesday, it seemed likely that the movie would hit the theatres in the summer.

Only for God to intervene.

Okay, it was not God, but a certain Andres Iniesta Lujan who blasted his shot past the ten man defensive wall of Chelsea and past a helpless Petr Cech.

After their first leg match against Chelsea last week, there were some doubts as to whether Barcelona can sustain their galactic football and sustain their results. Chelsea became the first team this season to stop the freescoring Josep Guardiola's side from scoring at Camp Nou this season as they parked ten men behind the ball and the team coach in front of their goal to help Cech stave off the incessant Barcelona attacks.

Barcelona did complain of Chelsea playing ultra-defensive football after the match, which was not at all true as Chelsea didn't play football and didn’t even try to, but the fact was that Barcelona, who had thrashed Lyon 5-2 and Bayern Munich 4-0 at home in the UEFA Champion League already this season, couldn’t manage to score. The best chance of the match had fallen to Chelsea and although the tie was still balanced, Barcelona's lack of steel and ability to play in a way other than their wonted swashbuckling fashion was apparent.

Next up were Real Madrid, whose season looked over in the first clasico of the season when a 2-0 defeat at Camp Nou condemned them to a staggering 12 points off the pace. But 17 wins in 18 league matches since then and 44 points out of a possible 54 for the Catalans implied that Madrid were only four points behind Barca and a win, which many Madridistas assumed they would get, on Saturday would put Barcelona under tremendous pressure.

But on Saturday Madrid lost the match in seven minutes as Barcelona scored twice during that time to overhaul Gongalo Higuain's 13th minute lead. Messi scored twice and so did Thierry Henry as Barcelona ran out 6-2 winners, inflicting on Madrid their worst ever clasico defeat. They won the biggest match on the planet with such incisiveness and elegance that even the footballing God would have been proud.

Chelsea, though, were supposed to be a different sort of proposition and they turned out to be so. Everyone saw how they played and what happened in the match and everyone saw that Barcelona, mighty Barcelona, who have been ripping apart defences in Spain and in Europe with the slickness of Jack the Ripper, struggled to carve out an opening.

But they did and did so in the 93rd minute, a last minute equalizer that was more like a winner. A crisp move saw Messi thread a quick pass to Iniesta and the man who might just be the best and most reliable player in the world, blasted the ball into the back of Petr Cech’s goal and with it Barcelona to Rome, finalizing a date with Manchester United who are well known for their last minute equalizers and winners.

Since Tuesday last to this Wednesday, Barcelona have exhibited that like all champions they do have character. Of course, certain referring decisions have gone their way just as certain refereeing decisions have gone against them but the best thing about Barcelona's sustenance of their challenge for the Treble is that they didn’t, and don't, grind out result like other champions and 'great teams' do. They didn’t play dirty and kept true to their footballing philosphy, playing with a depleted defence but still had Gerard Pique start moves from inside Chelsea's half.

Barcelona’s silk is Barcelona's steel, their commitment to beautiful football is their strength and their naiveté is their innocence.

Oh, as for that film, they are waiting until May 27 to take a concrete decision on it. But they do have penned a title for it: "The Greatest Team In Football History".

Subhankar Mondal