Chelsea vs. Barcelona: Lionel Messi Must End His Struggles Against the Blues

Barcelona star Lionel Messi played pretty well against Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, but his goal drought against the Blues continued. 

Messi must get on the score sheet in the return leg at the Nou Camp Tuesday or Chelsea might pull off a stunning upset to reach the final and play against Bayern Munich or Real Madrid with European glory at stake.

Messi had some quality scoring chances against the Blues but he was unable to finish them; the lack of an away goal could cost his club in the second leg. If Chelsea score first in the second leg, Barcelona will need to score three unanswered goals to reach the final.

The Blues will certainly swarm Messi and have midfielders such as Frank Lampard track back into the defensive third and defend him, and it's up to Messi to find a way to beat this strategy.

As soon as Messi touched the ball and raced toward Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, the Blues were waiting for him with multiple defenders, and this really frustrated Messi. 

If Barcelona are going to go through to the final, they will have a very difficult time breaking down the Chelsea defense, which will likely sit back for most of the second leg and defend, which is what it did for much of the second half on Wednesday.

Some call this anti-football, but I call it effective.

"Parking the bus" is an effective strategy against Barcelona because you cannot play an open game with them or you will lose, since they have so much attacking talent.

In seven career matches against Chelsea, Messi has scored zero goals. If he extends that streak to eight games, Barcelona might be watching the Champions League final at home this season.

Messi has to lead the Barcelona attack in the second leg or Barcelona won't defend their European title successfully.