Barca v Chelsea: An Unstoppable Force Meets An Immovable Object.

Barcelona v Guus Hiddink in the Knockouts

We’ve been drooling over Barcelona this season, and with good reason. They’ve played the sort of attacking football that makes grown men cry with joy. But that doesn’t make them unbeatable. Not when they’re going up against Guus Hiddink in the knockout rounds. And not when they’re going up against some far more frightening than the standard Magic of Guus: Guus Hiddink with a good team in the knockouts.

Over the last decade Guus has made his name with either average to above average teams (South Korea & Australia) or good teams with fairly large flaws (Russia & PSV). And each time he took them far beyond reasonable expectation (perhaps not so with Russia – but I think even most Russians will admit their backline is/was suspect at best), adding to his burgeoning legacy in the process. A legacy which helps you achieve things like this:

So here’s the problem: Chelsea are good. Period. Sure, they, like every other team in the world, have their flaws. But those flaws are minuscule in comparison to most and the Blues have more than enough individual quality to make up for it. So if Guus could get PSV to the semi-finals in ‘05 and only lose to Milan on away goals, what does that mean for this Chelsea team? In short: perhaps this semi-final isn’t quite as cut and dried as it seems.

As for Barcelona…what more can be said at this point? They’re the best team on the planet and they have the best player on the planet – full stop.

The blaugrana do certainly have flaws in the back, but that attack is beyond words. The incisiveness and fluidity is superior to anything we’ve seen in recent times. There have certainly been teams with comparable attacking personnel, but Barcelona almost attain a degree of telepathy. Their ability – particularly that of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi – to pick out the run of a teammate even before the first step is taken succinctly sums up the intelligence and natural instinct of their play. Beyond athletes, they’re artists.

Now the question is…can Guus stop Barca’s attack and expose the Spanish back enough for a final return? Well, you’d be daft to bet against Barcelona this year, but you’d be just as daft to bet against Guus Hiddink in any major tournament. The unstoppable force meets the immovable object. Therefore there can only be one winner: the fans.

Prediction: Thankfully the only prediction required right now is for the game at the Camp Nou, which I suspect Barcelona will win 2-1 (Eto’o). But predicting the entire tie…well, we’ve seen Guus stifle what appears to be the best attack in the world at the time not so long ago, right? It’ll be interesting to see how many Dutch back Guus to wave his wand again.

Betting Odds:

Barcelona win: 8/11
Draw: 5/2
Chelsea win: 4/1

More betting odds at Paddy Power.

Bonus Prediction: John Terry and Carles Puyol will pound their chests and yell at each other in grunts all game, warming the soul of every throwback centerback who’s ever laced up a boot.

So how do you see this one going?

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Category: Champions League