After 182 minutes of precise defending and intense focus, Guus Hiddink's Chelsea side were denied passage to the CL final in Rome by an exquisite and frankly unexpected equalizer by the player of the match Andres Iniesta. Iniesta's equalizer was stunning and brilliant for more than just the perfect technique he used to execute the strike. Goals, and maybe more importantly shots, like the one he took in second half stoppage time have not been taken by Barcelona all year. This is because down the wings they have been able to penetrate with such ease that they seldom score from outside the box because why try shooting from outside the box when you can get closer with a few clever passes and runs? And when they do score from outside the box the goal practically always comes from a free kick. Why I think Iniesta got the tiny bit of room that he did is because Chelsea were likely lectured on the fact that Barcelona like to pass from the top of the box in order to get a give and go and march to a point blank position in front of the goal before shooting. But leave it to the versatile and ever improving Andres Iniesta to throw out the game plan that had been stifled for 180+ against Chelsea and blast in a magnificent equalizer. I will be anxiously waiting for the final for the next three weeks and cannot wait for the epic showdown.
