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Incident

Drogba the difference for Chelsea against BarÃ§a

18 April 2012 22:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA.Chelsea FC will defend a 1-0 lead at the Camp Nou next week after Didier Drogba continued his scoring run against FC Barcelona with the decisive goal in a tense semi-final first leg, APA reports quoting uefa.com.

The London sideâ€™s run of success against the UEFA Champions League holders â€“ they have now not lost in the last six fixtures â€“ encouraged their belief that they can reach the final for only the second time. BarÃ§a were left to reflect on a number of missed opportunities, Alexis SÃ¡nchez and substitute Pedro RodrÃguez striking the woodwork.

Barcelona kicked off and immediately signposted what kind of night it could be for Chelsea by keeping hold of the ball for 76 seconds. Even then the first touch by a blue shirt was halted by an infringement.

A long clearance by Petr ÄŒech raised the home teamâ€™s hopes, Drogba catching Carles Puyol off guard but overrunning the ball. BarÃ§aâ€™s first real threat arrived in the ninth minute, SÃ¡nchez timing his run perfectly to collected a through pass from AndrÃ©s Iniesta. The forward lifted the ball over the goalkeeper but was denied by the crossbar.

Chelsea replied with a Gary Cahill long throw that caused confusion but the ball would not drop for John Terry. The visitors preferred the more scenic route to goal, Lionel Messiâ€™s run winning him valuable space. Iniestaâ€™s shot was parried by ÄŒech but Cesc FÃ bregas sliced his follow-up and Chelsea breathed again.

Messi was appearing in fits and starts but every intervention set off alarms in the home defence. From SÃ¡nchezâ€™s cross he stretched ÄŒech with a header. Close to half-time his prodded pass released FÃ bregas but although a dinked effort beat the goalkeeper, Ashley Cole was there to clear.

Chelsea would have been happy to reach the break on level terms but it got better than that. Frank Lampard switched play magnificently to send Ramires haring away down the left. He spied Drogba free inside the area and the pass was dispatched first time past VÃctor ValdÃ©s for the Ivorianâ€™s third goal in five games against these opponents.

The goal clearly stung the reigning champions and they began the second half by extending ÄŒech once more, the goalkeeper diving to his left to keep Adriano off the scoresheet.

Messi was now more involved and twice Cahill made timely interceptions. Chelsea had another let-off in the 57th minute when Messi scooped a delicate pass to SÃ¡nchez behind the defence, but the ball got stuck under the Chileanâ€™s feet and the shot went wide.

Chelsea were unable to relieve the pressure for long. The visitors won several free-kicks in dangerous positions outside the penalty area but none came to anything as the wall held firm.

With three minutes left ÄŒech came to the rescue again. Messiâ€™s free-kick was floated this time and nodded on by Puyol but the goalkeeper was equal to it. The Chelsea No1 was beaten by Pedroâ€™s low shot deep into added time but the left-hand post came to his rescue and, when Sergio Busquets sent the rebound high over the bar, Chelseaâ€™s slender advantage was secure.