It's hard to criticise Barcelona for anything because they are an amazing side and have clocked up the major trophies to boot. But don't people think that maybe they should have tried just something a bit different yesterday?
It was only because they seemed to be a bit out of form. Their tactic is generally let their creative players create something and I guess their creative players all reside in the centre of the field so it was all about getting a through ball through in and around the box. Even when they went wide it seemed to only be to try to stretch the game a bit and the instruction of the wide players seemed to be to then give it back to Xavi and co so that they could possibly do something with that extra space. If a through ball on the deck didn't get through then they tried the dinked/chipped pass a lot which would have been so easy for the defenders as it would have been in front of them and never got them turning towards their own goal.
I dunno, maybe stick Messi out wide and tell him and the winger on the other side to really stretch the play and get at the fullback? God knows they have the ability. Maybe float some crosses into the centre rather than drilled, middle to low crosses just to see if they can get Cech off his line a bit? Maybe take some long shots just to give them a bit more to think about because Messi was the only one willing to have a go from a distance and hence a couple of people on him all the time. Maybe having Iniesta or Xavi or Sanchez have a shot may have just been something a bit different?
Also, I thought the lack of a real striker and Dabid Beeya drinks sangria really told last night. Their forward line never really gave the defenders anything to think about both in terms of movement (although to be fair there wouldn't have been enough space to move into) or directness. Someone like Villa would have given that and also probably got vexed with the passing and taken some long shots, something of which he is capable of doing.
That said though, Chelsea defended well and deserve to be in the final. Also, you don't want to be too harsh on Barcelona because they are amazing and still the best team in the world and will challenge and may very well win everything next season. Also the reason why they play this amazing football is probably because they spend so much time practicing this way that they have no time to try another style (nor would we want them to). I mean, fucking hell, no striker, no full backs, 4 central midfielders, 78% possession even away from home? Some practice needed to make that effective.
But it just goes to show you that in Football and in sport there is never a sure thing and even the best in the world can be toppled.