Barcelona vs. Chelsea: 5 Most Underrated Players in Blues' Advancement

"How could you miss that penalty kick, Messi?!"

That's what I like to imagine Ashley Cole is yelling to Barcelona's most well-known (and underwhelming) player in this photo.

After all, Chelsea beat Barca. With 10 men. In Camp Nou.

(I'll let that sink in for a moment.)

It's one of the best wins in Chelsea history and will go down in Champions League lore. After all, who could have predicted that the Blues would have won? (Except when I did it on April 10, of course.)

Chelsea's most recent win over Barcelona will forever be cemented into my brain as the only time that I, as a Tottenham fan, went to the local pub and cheered for the Blues. How could you not? They were down to 10 men for most of the match with a manager in Roberto Di Matteo who is, to put it mildly, one of the up-and-coming managerial talents in world football.

But while everyone is talking about Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres, I want to highlight the little guy. No, not Lionel Messi—the Chelsea players who are being completely underrated and overlooked.

Without much more ado about nothing, I give you the five players who were most pivotal to Chelsea advancing against Barcelona, but are being completely underrated.

Petr Cech

I start with Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech knowing full well he's gotten a lot of credit for both of the Blues' matches against Barcelona, but he'll never get enough.

If his clean sheet at Stamford Bridge last week stood by itself, it could have been seen as a fluke.

But after Tuesday night's brilliant display of athleticism and intelligence against Barca's dominant attack and technical prowess, one has to wonder—is Cech the best 'keeper in the world?

He was without blame for both of the goals he conceded and his strong leg in goal kicks gave Chelsea the time they needed to regroup. His long reach and broad frame (he's 6'5") gave him an advantage that he employed again and again against the Blaugrana.

You can't say enough good things about the 29-year-old who is going to shine for his Czech Republic in this summer's Euro 2012 finals.

Ramires

Like Cech before him, Ramires is going to get a lot of credit for Chelsea's win over Barcelona, but I think most of what he brought to the match on Tuesday night is going to get lost in the highlights.

Besides being all over the pitch and making his presence known in three places at once, the young midfielder was relentless in his support of the defense. His speed and workhorse mentality made him one of the shining stars in the Blues' historic win over Barcelona.

Hard to imagine Chelsea going through to the final without his gutsy performance.

Branislav Ivanovic

It's absolutely heartbreaking that Ivanovic picked up a yellow card at Barcelona, but it's even more heartbreaking to watch a reporter informing him he wouldn't be playing in the Champions League final because of it.

The right-back picked himself up after a Barca through ball got by him and turned in a clinical performance, keeping Cech company for most of the night and making sure that Chelsea's deficiency in possession—which was only 17 percent for the entire night—didn't keep them from moving forward.

He was absolutely pivotal to Chelsea's remarkable win on Tuesday night and, again, it's an absolute shame he has to miss the final.

José Bosingwa

When Gary Cahill went off in the 12th minute, you could almost hear the collective groan from southwest London. After all, Cahill was Chelsea's prized transfer during the most recent window. Needing to keep a one-goal lead on aggregate is exactly why he was brought to Stamford Bridge.

But then José Bosingwa came onto the pitch and started to do something no Blues fans expected—he out centre-backed the starting centre-back.

We all expected a disaster from Bosingwa. After all, this is Barcelona we're talking about and Bosingwa isn't a centre-back—he's a right-back. 

But the Portuguese was sensational in the center of the defensive back line. He played the position with the same kind of discipline you'd expect of any veteran centre-back. But he mixed in his athleticism and pace as a right-back to give Chelsea a central defender who could go from one end of the box to the other in a matter of seconds.

In short, Bosingwa put forth an effort that merits a great deal of credit, and I hope he gets it.

Ashley Cole

Here we are, the crème de la crème of Chelsea's squad on Tuesday night—Ashley Cole.

Not only did he display the greatest of pace and stamina by running up and down the left sideline (for all 90 minutes, no less!) but he was always spot on in his defensive tactics and ready to mark up Isaac Cuenca, rendering the Barca midfielder ineffective and forcing Pep Guardiola to substitute in an even-less effective Cristian Tello.

In my book, he was the man of the match who had countless interceptions and even more well-timed challenges. The 31-year-old showed he's still got a lot of gas left in the tank. Can he give the same kind of quality in the Champions League final?