SO Guus Hiddink was having us all on, the wily old fox.
The Dutchman said Chelsea would fight fire with fire, that they would take the game to free-flowing Barca.
We were promised thrills and skills and a feast of attacking football.Instead, Chelsea dug the trenches, put their bodies on the line and, with goalkeeper Petr Cech back to his best, they frustrated the life out of their illustrious opponents.
Barcelona’s ‘Holy Trinity’ of Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o, who had rattled in 90 goals between them since September, suddenly forgot where the net was.It was the first time all season that Barca had failed to score at the Nou Camp and the Blues deserve enormous credit for getting back to London with a 0-0 draw.
It was a tall order for the Blues given their defence has not looked the most solid in recent weeks — conceding four against Liverpool in the quarter-final second leg at Stamford Bridge before scrambling home 7-5 on aggregate.
But you still would not like to bet which one of these two will make the Champions League final.
A goalless draw in the first leg is one of those scores which often leaves the home side vulnerable in the return, knowing they cannot afford to concede an away goal.
And, as Barca have so many attacking options, Chelsea will find it tough keeping them out again.
They can take heart, though, from the fact Manchester United drew 0-0 here in last year’s semi-final and went through.
Chelsea sailed pretty close to the wind at the end, however.
As the game went into stoppage time, Dani Alves swung over a cross from the right and teenage substitute Bojan headed over from a couple of yards. It was an absolute sitter.
Ex-Arsenal midfielder Alex Hleb could still have given his team the advantage after that as he broke down the left but Cech came out well to block his shot and Hleb then blasted the rebound into the side-netting.
Chelsea had only one clear-cut opportunity all night and Didier Drogba will feel he should have taken it, having seized on a woeful Rafael Marquez backpass late in the first half.
His first effort was saved by the diving Victor Valdes and, when the rebound fell at the Ivorian’s feet again, he tried to chip the ball over the keeper — only for Valdes to get both hands to it to thwart the danger.
Chelsea also had a chance with a flick header by Michael Ballack which went just over the barIt became obvious from the moment Hiddink handed in the teamsheet that he had conned us about his approach to the game.
He employed two holding midfielders in Ballack and John Obi Mikel and had the defensively-minded Michael Essien on the right of the three supporting Drogba.
The effect was to stifle the creativity of star man Messi.
The Argentinian never got a grip on the game and full marks to Jose Bosingwa, who had to fill in as an emergency left-back because of the suspension of Ashley Cole.
Maybe if Bosingwa had been booked when he took out Messi early on, it might have been a different story because he could not have afforded another lunge. But the Portuguese escaped and went on to do a commendable job.
Messi could not find space down the flank and, when he cut inside, he just ran into a wall of Chelsea players.
Henry meanwhile struggled to create any room on the left and was restricted to shots from outside the box which Cech saved well.
The Frenchman was, however, pretty miffed at not getting a 74th-minute penalty as he turned in the box and had his shirt tugged by Bosingwa.
It was one of those which defenders get away with most of the time but, just occasionally, a ref spots it. Fortunately for the visitors, German official Wolfgang Stark did not.
Striker supreme Eto’o was also well snuffed out by skipper John Terry and his Brazilian partner Alex.
Cameroon international Eto’o did get past Terry once in the second half when he nutmegged him just inside the halfway line and also evaded the challenge of Alex — but Cech again got down well to save with his legs.
At times it was all very untidy — and Barca players spent a lot of time rolling around on the ground claiming various forms of assault. Alves had a running battle with Drogba but Chelsea did no more than apply a little bit of muscle in all areas of the park, which did not allow those with the twinkle toes to work their magic.
The irony was that it was actually Barca who were punished most when sub Carles Puyol, on for the injured Marquez, fouled Ballack. The shaggy-haired defender was shown a yellow card and is now out of the second leg.
In the event they only had themselves to blame for failing to take those late chances which might just have opened the door to a second successive final for Chelsea.
