Chelsea vs. Barcelona: Barcelona's Dani Alves Says Chelsea Play with Fear

The 2009 Champions League semifinal is a sore point for Chelsea. But Barcelona right-back Dani Alves poured bags of salt into the wound just a day before the two sides meet in the first leg of their Champions League rematch on Wednesday at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea fans will remember the second leg of the 2009 tie as a night when their team were denied a half-dozen penalty kicks. But Alves says the referee was not the reason Chelsea failed to progress.

"Chelsea did not reach the final because of fear," Alves told reporters. "The team that has got a man more, is playing at home and winning should have attacked us more. But of course, if you don't have that concept of football that Barcelona have, you stay back and you get knocked out."

After a scoreless first leg, Chelsea went ahead early in the second match from a stunning volley off the foot of Michael Essien.

But the Blues were knocked out of the competition in the final reckoning by a last-minute goal from Andres Iniesta that evened the aggregate score and put the Catalans through on the away-goals rule.

Even the most biased observers will concede that Chelsea were mightily hard done by referee Tom Henning Ovrebo. But Alves feels the 2009 tie was decided at a much more basic level.

"You have to go forward," Alves said. "Stay back: losers. Go forward: winners. I think Chelsea lacked the courage to take a step forward and attack us. They paid for it."

The two sides will renew acquaintances on Wednesday night. This time, Ovrebo will be nowhere in sight, as the match is officiated by German referee Felix Brych. Fans of both sides will hope that he figures little into the final outcome.

Whatever the result on Wednesday, the second leg will see Chelsea travel to the Nou Camp on April 24th for the deciding match.

The winner of "Barcelona/Chelsea 2.0" will face the winner of the other semifinal between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

The 2012 Champions League final will take place in Munich on Saturday, May 19th.