It's Still Chelsea's Title | The Special One Tames Barca!

I’m still here at London. England have truly brought home the ashes. Was supposed to fly home last weekend but still stuck because of volcanic ash that erupted from Eyjafjallajökull (haven’t yet figured out how to pronounce this).

The last few days have been incredible. It’s not fun when you’re directly affected by a headline news on BBC and CNN. I was even wondering if I can return home in the near future of if I’ve to travel to Barcelona or Milan by rail and then flying to India.

Tonight, the announcement is out that the British airspace would be opened up. This still does not mean much in terms of returning home. The resumption of flight services would mean many thousands would gatecrash at the airports making the availability of tickets a very difficult task. Really hoping that my travel agent does a good job.

I couldn’t post the match reactions after the Spurs match. Apologies for that. I was trying to get to White Hart Lane to watch the match. Tickets were sold out by the time I realised that I’d stay back in the UK for the weekend due to volcanic ash disruption.

Finally, I ended up watching the match in a traditional English pub. If I’ve to be honest, Spurs absolutely deserved their win. They were better than us in every single department of the game. That goal by Lampard is a not a consolation but a small step in keeping the goal difference out of reach for our rivals.

The moment I saw Phil Dowd as the referee, I knew it was going to be difficult for us. The man hates Chelsea and in particular, John Terry. He’s always been biased against us. For a referee, he loves himself too much. I think he loves to be the centre of attraction and wants to make the controversial decisions, especially against the teams that he hates. He was horrible but that’s not to take anything away from Spurs who were brilliant.

Man Utd beating City with a goal in so-called ‘Fergie time’ was very bad news for us. I was watching this match too in a pub. The manner in which City conceded the goal and the fact that the header was scored by old Scholes was just unacceptable. The lead is now cut to one point.

Still, we are at the driver’s seat. There’s no better place to be in the league now than leading the table. Let’s hope that Spurs do a hat trick with Man Utd after their defeats of Arsenal and Chelsea. Spurs beating Man Utd is the only thing I’d ask for next weekend.

As long as Spurs beat Man Utd, I don’t mind Chelsea dropping points. Going by the current form and the fact that Gary Neville could be playing, Spurs can just murder Man Utd. I’d love to see that.

Tonight, I saw Jose Mourinho’s Inter massacre FC Barcelona. Not many teams score three goals against Barcelona (Jose’s Chelsea scored four against them though). And not many teams beat Barcelona with a two goal margin. That was a special performance by Inter. This is what I’d written after Barca’s demolition of Arsenal:

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I thought Barcelona were not too good. They were made to look better by a poor and typical Arsenal performance. Barcelona are very unsure at the back. For that reason, they are certainly beatable. It would help Jose to see that Barca match at Stamford Bridge last season. Probably, any team that wants to beat Barcelona must see how we played them at the Bridge. In the recent times, in my opinion, that was the best big stage performance by any team against Barcelona.

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Inter have not only proved that Barcelona are beatable but they have also exposed their weaknesses and have shown that they can be dominated. This is a game Inter must have killed off with a 4-1 or 5-1 scoreline against the defending champions and a team that won everything that was there to be won last season.

I’m quite aware that Barca only needs an achievable 2-0 win at Camp Nou to go through but something tells me that this Champions League belongs to The Special One. Remember the ‘connection’ I was talking about.

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It’s no surprise to you that I’m rooting for Jose in the champions league. I want see his Inter knock Barcelona out and win the champions league final too. He’s beaten Chelsea and CSKA, both teams that have a Roman Abramovich connection. He now has a chance to beat Barcelona with whom he has a special connection. This could just be his season. Let’s wait and watch.

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I particularly liked his comment about Barcelona players complaining about the referee. Here is Jose Mourinho at his articulate best:

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I saw some things in the tunnel that already make me think what awaits me next week… What I saw was the Barcelona players who were angry with the referees, and it should be said that their memory is very short because I can’t forget that when ‘my boys’ at Chelsea were crying over Ovrebo’s refereeing in the match last year, and they were laughing, they were laughing with the referee; whereas this evening they weren’t capable of saying that they lost against a team that deserved to win. Now they cannot complain about the referee. Chelsea were put of the final that they deserved to play and the referee gave Barcelona a chance to play and win the final. Now they can’t complain.

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Wow! How good is that! You all know that I’m the biggest fan of this man, Jose Mourinho. He just gets better for me. The world needs to be reminded of the injustice that happened at Stamford Bridge last season. I love it when JM does it. In fact, Milito was incorrectly called offside early in the game and his goal was offside.

Plus, I don’t think Alves deserved a penalty. So, in my eyes, the referee favoured neither teams. Barcelona should realise that they are a team of mortals and they can be beaten, especially by a coach like Jose Mourinho.

Chelsea to play Stoke City this Sunday. Man Utd would have played Spurs by that time. I’m not sure if I’d be able to watch this match. Now that the British airspace is opened for commercial flights, I might have to fly any day in the next few days. If I get home by the weekend, I’ll post a pre-match blog. Otherwise, see you next week.