Barcelona-Chelsea: Am I the Only One Who Noticed?

Barcelona and Chelsea both slashed in a Champions League Semifinal match.

First of all, let's dedicate a few lines to what little football there was.

Bojan Krkic and Didier Drogba both missed easy chances, and Samuel Eto'o had the only beautiful play of the match, as he won the better of Alex only to be stopped by another one of the few who looked like a real footballer on the night—Petr Cech. Nil-nil it ended.

I would like any reader who saw the match to please tell me if I'm the only one who saw Thierry Henry yanked down in the box by his jersey.

Am I also the only one who saw Michael Ballack slap a Barcelona player about to enter the box, not receive his second yellow, and subsequently not be sent off?

These were the more obvious ones that even my grandmother could spot, but the truth is there was a subtle standing order in effect to cheat Barcelona on every occasion—or maybe that's just my eyes playing tricks on me.

Did anyone else out there see this?

Yes folks, on more occasions than not, there were bodies lying on the turf, sometimes two or three at a time. It looked more like a war zone as Chelsea upped their game in this semifinal brawl at the Camp Nou and succeeded in containing Barcelona.

Chelsea were the main violent aggressors, but Barcelona were not to be outdone and brought on Hulk Puyol, who applied an elegant body slam which surely was the move of the match.

The other elbows, slaps, head butts, and slashes from behind paled in comparison to Puyol's finely executed body slam, almost breaking a Chelsea player in half.

The return match in England promises to be a thrilling affair.