Barcelona vs. Chelsea: Were Barca Sore Losers?

Reading the Evening Standard in the aftermath of the Barcelona vs. Chelsea match, I was subjected to a Cesc Fabregas interview in which, once again, he moaned that Barcelona should be in the final on the basis that they play "beautiful" football.

One word for this argument: boring.

Barcelona do play beautiful football, and Fabregas was understandably upset about his team's Champions League exit, but has he never heard of defeat with dignity.

Barcelona weren't good enough, simple as that. They may have created chances and had far superior possession, but the fact remains, Chelsea handed Barcelona the tie in a gift-wrapped package and Barca didn't take it.

You can do as many one-two passes as you like, but if you can't beat a team with 10 men and a makeshift defence over 50 minutes, then do you really deserve a victory?

All Fabregas managed to mention was how Chelsea "damaged" Barca's playing style. Yes, they did damage it, they stopped you from scoring, which in my experience is what teams are meant to do.

I wouldn't have minded the criticism so much if he had made at least one mention of the heroic efforts of Chelsea throughout this game.

I can't believe he was surprised that Chelsea were defensive, did he expect them to go all guns blazing in a semifinal against probably the world's best attacking team? Of course not, and most teams in that position would have done exactly what Chelsea did.

Besides, Chelsea scored three times against the Spanish champions. In my opinion, the goals showed a lack of respect from Barcelona for the Chelsea attack. I know it was the last minute and Barca needed a goal, but seriously, who leaves nobody at the back to prevent a counterattack?

I just needed to get that off my chest.