Messi off the mark, Willian’s revival, false nine: Talking points from Chelsea vs Barcelona

It was a case of being so near, yet so far for Chelsea, whose form this season has been bereft of coherence. There have been games when everything has clicked for them from start to finish. They just need to look at their performances against Manchester United and Atletico Madrid for that.

Then there have also been games that one can describe as the players’ best efforts to get coach Antonio Conte get the sack. Yes, this was a reference to the back-to-back thrashings against Bournemouth and Watford just two weeks ago.

On Tuesday, Chelsea had the chances to walk away from the Champions League last-16 contest against Barcelona with a victory. However, they now have left themselves with the arduous task of netting a goal away to stay alive in the contest.

Before the start, Conte spoke about his side needing a “perfect” game to get a positive result. The Italian’s plan to keep the ball away from harm’s way – the Catalans hogging possession but doing little with it – was a ploy that was clicking.

However, Lionel Messi and Barcelona had the last laugh, yet again, showing that even the slightest of errors would be treated with little mercy. Moreover, one needs to take their chances against the Spanish league leaders. Barca too, were culpable of wasting two good opportunities that fell to the lackluster Paulinho and Gerard Pique.

The false nine – a trick missed?

There was plenty of focus on how Chelsea would lineup going into this game. Frenchman Olivier Giroud, who has got off to a decent start at west London, and club record singing Alvaro Morata were jostling for the lone striker’s position.

Alas, Conte deployed talisman Eden Hazard as a false nine in a 3-4-3 with Pedro and Willian tailing off the Belgian. It was not as though Hazard was a let-down by any means. He ran the channels well, dragged defenders out of position and looked dangerous on the turn.

Conte, though, needed to look no further than Barca’s travails with a big centre forward who can rally the creative midfielders playing off him, especially on the counter-attack. Didier Drogba made himself a menace in such a scenario in the years gone by.

Chelsea were hardly a threat from crosses and one feels, Hazard would have been better off with Giroud or Morata taking defenders with them, with the former having space to run directly at goal.

As much as the move nearly paid off for Conte here, persisting with a false nine curbs the gifts of Hazard. For Chelsea, there is a lot riding on the 27-year-old’s gift of unlocking defences.

When he came on from the bench, Morata’s presence had Barca’s defence in a spot of bother. One wonders whether playing with the Spaniard or Giroud from the start would have had a bearing on the result.

Messi breaks his duck, Suarez disappoints

It took nearly 13 years and nine games but Messi finally opened his account against the Blues. It has been a season where the Argentine has, in certain games, almost single-handedly dragged his team to wins.

As much as his scoring duck against Chelsea was one of the central themes before the game, Messi played like a man who hardly lost sleep over it.

He showed his trademark feints and deft touches and gave plenty of nightmares for Antonio Rudiger, who was clearly having one of the tougher evenings of his career.

Luis Suarez, meanwhile, was below-par and failed to match up to the pace set by his illustrious teammate. With time soon running out of the contest, Messi got the monkey off his back. Andreas Christensen, Chelsea’s stand-out defender this season, played a poor sideways pass into the box. Andres Iniesta preyed in, controlled the ball and played a neat cut-back for Messi. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner then gave little chance to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to react and scored Barcelona’s all-important away goal. Nine years ago in the controversial semi-final at the same venue, it was Messi who set up Iniesta for his magnificently struck winner.

The resurrection of Willian

It can be argued that the Brazilian was the best player on the pitch. Willian has fallen out of favour for large parts of the season. There were even rumours of him taking the exit door during the winter transfer window. Tuesday night was a reminder for Conte to start Willian more consistently.

The winger was instrumental in his side threatening in the last fifteen minutes of the first half. During this time, he had slammed the woodwork twice with excellent shots from just outside the box.

Quite fittingly, he scored the opener with a crisp low curler that had Marc-Andre ter Stegen and his defence flat-footed. Switching from centre to right and teasing defenders with his well disguised change of pace, Willian was a revelation.

Unfortunately, his wonderful goal was cancelled out by his teammates’ sloppy work at the back. It is advantage Barca but a lot of encouraging signs for the reigning English champions, and Willian was the architect of it all.