Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea: Ousmane Dembele seizes his opportunity and other things learned

Andy West 02:03 15/03/2018
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  • Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele

    Lionel Messi punished error-prone Chelsea as Barcelona advanced to the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-0 win at the Camp Nou.

    After eight appearances without a goal against Chelsea, Messi settled this tie by scoring the equaliser in last month’s first leg and two goals here, either side of Ousmane Dembele’s first Barca goal, for a 4-1 aggregate success.

    Here, we examine three things learned.

    CHELSEA RUE COURTOIS BLUNDER

    Messi opens the scoring for Barcelona

    Messi opens the scoring for Barcelona

    The last thing Chelsea needed was to give Barca the encouragement and cushion of an early goal, but that’s exactly what happened thanks to a terrible error from Thibaut Courtois for Messi’s second-minute opener.

    Although Messi struck his narrow-angled shot with a fair amount of power, it should have been a routine save for the Belgian keeper, who will be embarrassed by replays of the ball squirming through his body at the near post.

    In his defence, perhaps Courtois was taken by surprise when Messi shot with his weaker right foot from such a narrow angle, but it was still a save he should have made.

    The London club responded very well to falling behind and caused more than a few problems for Barca’s defence, with the direct running of Eden Hazard and Willian frequently working the ball into dangerous positions, but that opener meant they were always vulnerable to conceding again and Dembele’s excellent second effectively sealed the tie.

    DEMBELE SEIZES HIS OPPORTUNITY 

    Ousmane Dembele celebrates his first Barca goal

    Ousmane Dembele celebrates his first Barca goal

    Barca boss Ernesto Valverde sprang a surprise in his team selection by making the attack-minded decision to name Dembele in the starting eleven, giving the former Borussia Dortmund winger his first real chance to justify his €105 million price tag on a big stage.

    Valverde took some criticism for excessive negativity when he selected Paulinho for the first leg at Stamford Bridge, but he was clearly determined for his team to take the game to Chelsea on this occasion rather than sitting back on the advantage they gained through Messi’s first leg away goal.

    The decision paid off immediately as Dembele played a part in the move which led to Messi’s opener, and the young Frenchman then further seized his opportunity by producing a thumping finish from Messi’s wondrous assist for the second goal.

    Dembele’s performance was far from perfect but he did enough to show that he has a major role to play in the next couple of months.

    BARCA THROUGH BUT NOT PERFECT

    Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde

    Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde

    This was perhaps a more comfortable evening that many Barca fans had feared, with two goals inside the opening 20 minutes providing a dominant early position.

    But the final scoreline rather flattered the home team as Chelsea more than played their part in the contest, with Barca requiring some heroic defending – from Samuel Umtiti in particular – and two efforts against the woodwork – from Marcos Alonso and Antonio Rudiger – to preserve their clean sheet.

    In particular, it could have become a very different game if Slovenian referee Damir Skomina had given a penalty when Marcos Alonso went down under Gerard Pique’s challenge early in the second half. There was minimal contact but they are sometimes given, and a goal would have been fair reward for Chelsea’s attacking play.

    So although Barca march on with a convincing 4-1 aggregate success, they will surely have to improve defensively if they want to win the title for the four time in nine years.

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