A Little Lunacy!

First off, lemme tell you that this was one of the scrappiest matches I’ve ever seen and there were hardly any clear-cut chances for both sides. Still, the result is all that matters and Chelsea got the perfect result – a hard-fought 1-0 victory which leaves them 5 points clear at the top of the table!

No, it's not Chelsea vs ManU

I never actually expected to be able to watch the match, having been deprived of my weekly dose of the Premier League since the past three months. However, in a surprising turn of events, a couple of friends took over the common television that hangs by the poolside right after dinner and switched the channel to ESPN. A handful of protestations were swiftly silenced after a few more people joined in to watch the big match at 9:30 PM. Now the stage was set – we had 3 Chelsea fans, a couple of ManU fans and an Arsenal fan who was hoping for a draw, in addition to a few neutrals.

The match began in a cagey manner, typical of such encounters. Every tackle, shot on goal and piece of skill was greeted with oohs and aahs by our enthusiastic bunch of football fans. And we also had the obligatory discussions about the best players, how much ManU are missing Ronaldo and will Fergie blame the ref again if ManU lose. After the opening 45 minutes had produced a 0-0 scoreline, we awaited the second half with bated breath, hoping to see a genuine goal-scoring threat from either team ( preferably The Blues).

The second half was almost a carbon-copy of the first one, until a controversial decision to award a freekick to Chelsea resulted in John Terry putting the Blues ahead with a headed goal. 1-0 to Chelsea it was, and the ManU players on the pitch were fuming. What folowed was more than just a football match, with loads of shirt-tugging, tripping the opposition players and time-wasting being more prominent than the football itself. But inspite of United’s continued protests and frustration, as well as the referee’s erratic decision-making, Chelsea hung on to record yet another victory. We are now the league leaders with a 5 point advantage over the second-placed team.

Okay, so the game wasn’t a classic but it was my first experience watching a match with friends and foes (of course, with regards to allegiances only). And I gotta say, it was bloody awesome! Taunting the rival fans when we’re playing well and appreciating the opposition players when they play well is something that is usually restricted only to message-boards, forums or the stadium. But here, we enjoyed every bit of it and had a great time. And of course, the 34″ LCD TV had a big part to play as well.

So a great ending to the weekend and I managed to have a good night’s sleep, which is why this blog o’ mine is alive and kicking once again.

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Chelsea 1-1 Burnley

Burnley win on penalties.

Ouch! This was not in the script. Not at all. In cup competitions there are instances of David slaying Goliath every now and then, but when that Goliath happens to be Chelsea FC, the earth is bound to shake a bit more than usual.

Didier Drogba, returning from injury, gave Chelsea the lead after being set up by Lampard. Frank Lampard himself had just come on in place of Belletti, who had gone off injured. Drogba celebrated his goal by tossing wads of cash into the crowd, like a crazy millionaire. Err, actually he just picked up a coin that had been thrown onto the pitch and tossed it back to its rightful owner among the 6000 Burnley supporters. And Didier can expect a call from the FA very soon.

With 20 minutes remaining, Ade Akinyibi equalized for Burnley. Both teams finished the game with 10 men. Franco Di Santo got injured and all 3 Chelsea substitutions had already been used. Burnley’s Steven Caldwell was sent off for picking up a second yelow card. Burnley held on to force a penalty shootout after the score remained at 1-1 after 120 minutes of football.

And what is it with Chelsea and penalties? I don’t remember us having won a penalty shootout in a million years! Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen saved Mikel’s shot in sudden death, sparking massive celebrations among the travelling fans.

So Chelsea suffer their third defeat under Mr.Scolari and are out of the Carling Cup. And something tells me, I might have jinxed this game by mentioning the giant-killing acts of the past season too many times in my preview. Oh well, at least now we can concentrate on the other 3 competitions and try to finish off games before they reach penalties.

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