Chelsea vs. Barcelona: Why Champions League Clash Is Bigger Than Just One Match

Chelsea and Barcelona are nearly polar opposites.

One club buys its best players and grooms a few. The other grooms its best players and buys a few.

One club uses physicality to wear down teams and destroy them on the counter-attack. The other possesses for incredibly long periods of time and exhausts opponents.

One club is English. One club is Spanish.

And the result of this tie could determine the future of European football.

Sure, that sounds a little dramatic, but it's definitely a possibility.

Roman Abramovich, the one-time richest man in Russia, backs Chelsea financially, which makes it easy for the Blues to buy players. They might buy them young like Frank Lampard or even Gary Cahill. Or, Chelsea might buy established stars and veterans, like Fernando Torres.

Either way, the Blues let other academies develop their best players.

Barcelona, on the other hand, have one of the greatest academies in the world. That academy has produced greats like Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Xavi, to name a few.

Sure, Barca have bought players like Javier Mascherano and Eric Abidal, but notice that these aren't their top players. They buy to fill needs rather than to fill the roster.

When it comes to playing styles, these teams couldn't be more different.

Chelsea play straight up the middle, knocking smaller teams around. The Blues bully other teams and largely epitomize English football: hard tackles, long free kicks and solid defense.

Against more talented teams, Chelsea park the bus. They let the other team come in waves, and they try to get one counter-attack back the other way. Chelsea had one shot on target in the first leg at Stamford Bridge. They had one goal.

When you match up that type of bruising football to a club like Barcelona, you seem to have completely different sports.

The Catalans have glorified the tika-taka passing, and they do it as well as anyone ever has. They move the ball so effortlessly, and they possess for at least two-thirds of any particular game.

Pep Guardiola and Co. lull you to sleep with their sublime passing, and then they cut you up with a few incisive through-balls that are nearly impossible to defend. When Barca are on, they're nearly impossible to beat.

For the past three years, Barcelona (and Spain) have dominated Europe (and the world). Since the summer of 2008, the club and its country won the Euro 2008, the Copa del Ray, three straight La Liga titles, two out of three Champions League titles, and the World Cup.

That's about as dominant as possible.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have enjoyed some dominance, but not nearly to that extent. They've won two FA Cups and a Premier League crown in that same time. Additionally, England hasn't won a World Cup since Sir Alex Ferguson was a 24-year-old star for Dunfermline Athletic.

That isn't exactly what dominance is.

Yet, Chelsea, the overwhelming underdog, lead this tie 1-0. They didn't concede an away goal, and they are a 2-1 loss away from the 2012 Champions League final.

That's why this match means so much. Chelsea can effectively end a reign of dominance by taking this semifinal.

Barcelona and tika-taka passing have been dominant for nearly four years, and Chelsea have a chance to take them down a notch. The Catalans have essentially conceded Real Madrid as La Liga champions, and if they lose the Champions League crown, Barca will not have a major trophy for the first time since Spain won Euro 2008.

If Chelsea can park a big enough bus in front of the goal, they will prove that strong tackles, disciplined defending, and a little luck can trump the more appealing style of Messi and Barcelona.

Some people want to play a beautiful game. Some people want to win the game.

Both of these teams clearly want to win, but that doesn't mean both of them want to play a beautiful game.

Roberto Di Matteo and Chelsea know how they must play to win. If the sixth-best team in the Premier League can win by playing that gritty, ugly style, they could assert England's dominance over Spain as the best league in Europe.

Furthermore, they could assert England's style of football as the best in Europe.