Is This What They Meant By Premier League Opposition?

Premier League opposition, Premier League opposition, Premier League opposition: everyone seemed to think that FC Barcelona would never be tested until they confront one of the Big Four from the Premier League. They might have scored the most number of goals in the UEFA Champions League this season, their front three might be one of the most frightening in Spanish football history and they might have scored more league goals so far this season than Manchester United, Inter Milan and VfL Wolfsburg, but as those Premier League maniacs, for whom football beyond the 20 teams that comprise the English top flight doesn't exist, would tell you, Barcelona would remain unproven until they face a Premier League side.

After all, what’s so special about La Liga, eh? There might be goals and lots of them but this season, except Barcelona and to a considerable extent Villarreal, none of the Spanish teams has looked threatening in Europe, either in the Champions League or in the UEFA Cup. Scoring goals in the Spanish top flight is supposedly easier than in most major European leagues and Barcelona's record of scoring in all Liga matches since the opening day of the season was aided by the Spanish brand of football in which even poor old Sporting Gijon go out with all guns blazing even after they are 6-1 down.

And so Barcelona came up against an English opposition in Chelsea. This time the Catalans' true strength and depth would be revealed. We all know how physical the Premier League teams can play, how organized they are, how they make life hell for the opposition and never give up until the final whistle. Chelsea have been revitalized under Guus Hiddink and suddenly look to be true challengers for Europe's most prestigious club competition. Messi might be the finest player in the world but can he cope with a tactically more astute and a more cynical approach? Andres Iniesta might be the best creative player in Spain but would he be able to withstand the physical approach of Chelsea? Xavi dominates games in his own calm fashion but he lacks an aggressive tone and the Barcelona defence, although statistically the best in Spain (!), is certainly not a reliable one.

And for the first time since the opening day of the season, even the Blaugranas' frontline was not reliable. They had scored in 51 successive games since that opening day defeat to Numancia in the league and had never failed to score at Camp Nou this season. They have demolished teams 6-1, 5-2, 5-0 but on Tuesday they had only six shots on target. They might have retained 70% or so of the possession but couldn't find the time or the space on the ball to thread in that final killing pass that would open the floodgates.

Petr Cech proved that it is only donkeys and mental asylum seekers who suggest that he has lost his class, Jose Bosingwa showed Daniel Alves that the job of a right-back is more to defend than to attack and showed how to stop Lionel Messi, and John Mikel Obi showed that you need not be Lass to be class.

This was an English opposition and that meant they were stronger, better, more organized and more importantly, more pragmatic. They were strong enough to emulate the Italians of the pre-historic era and line up nine men behind the ball- nine men plus Petr Cech. They were better at killing football and with that killing the unalloyed joy that this sport brings. They were more organized in breaking the opposition’s moves and better in not creating any of their own. They were more pragmatic as a 0-0 suits them, just as it did Manchester United last season at the same stage, against the same team.

It was clear that on Tuesday evening, there was only one team playing football and it was not Chelsea. It was clear that on Tuesday evening, there was only one team not playing football and it was not Barcelona. It was clear that the best player for Barcelona was a certain Andres Iniesta who might not have the genius of Messi or the audacity of Cristiano Ronaldo but has the effectively, intelligence, vision and ball possession ability like no other player. It was clear to everyone that the best player for Chelsea was Petr Cech who pulled off six saves and had a total of 19 shots attempted towards his goal.

Is this the way they play in the Premier League? Is this the way Chelsea have played all season? Is this what they call the physical nature of football? Is this what they call the best football in the world? Is this how you win matches? Is this how you win the greatest club competition in the world? Is this how you earn fans from places who didn’t even know you existed until a certain Russian oligarch came with his barrels of money one fine morning?

For all those who laud Chelsea for their brilliant ‘tactical game’ and ‘strategic approach’, which can also be read as quintessentially boring and negative, please do this.

Close your eyes, think about this sport you love, reminiscence on how you fell in love with this game in the first place, keep a hand on your heart and ask yourself: would you cheer for this Chelsea side that showed shameless inclination to play the beautiful game in an ugly way? Did you cheer for the Juventus side that 'won' two league titles in a row in the mid 2000s playing coma-inducing football? Do you truly enjoy watching Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan 'that is even beginning to send Inter fans to sleep'?

Also ask yourself: Would you have started supporting Manchester United in the late 1990s/early 2000s had they played like Chelsea did on Tuesday? Would you have become a Madridista had the galacticos played as morosely as Chelsea did on Tuesday? Would you have started supporting Arsenal if they were cynical like Chelsea were on Tuesday?

Defending is an art for sure, but not when you so refinely add 20 fouls to it, not when you have ten men play behind the ball, not when you promise to play attacking football before the game and then do exactly the opposite, not when you pull down an opposition player in your penalty area and still get away with it.

They call the Italians boring but what were Chelsea on Tuesday? Exciting? If that is what football excitement is all about, then it is better to watch cricket. Or golf. Or maybe chess.

Barcelona will make you fall in love with this beautiful game, Chelsea will make you fall out of it. Just as they did on Tuesday.

Subhankar Mondal