After battling out for a 0-0 draw last night at the Nou Camp in Barcelona, Chelsea will take a slight subconscious advantage into the return leg of their Champions League semi-final.

In one of the most entertaining goalless draws that are ever likely to be seen, Chelsea played magnificently as they endured a Barcelona onslaught from start to finish. Theirry Henry was the most noticeable of the Barcelona players as the rest of his teammates were kept admirably quite by the entire Chelsea side.

Guus Hiddink’s men could even have stolen a one-goal advantage as Didier Drogba had clear chances to score, only to be denied by the tactical positioning of Barca keeper, Victor Valdes.

Chelsea will be buoyed by the fact they became the first team this season to go the Nou Camp and come away with a clean sheet still in tact, everyone else who has been there has been pretty much ripped apart.

Chelsea would have liked the away goal but they can now switch the pressure on Barcelona who will be disappointed not to take anything to Stamford Bridge when the teams meet for the second leg in a week’s time.

The match delivered everything that it was expected to deliver; passion, aggression and some Oscar award winning play-acting. Chelsea must be credited for a disciplined performance when they could easily have been over run and conceded more than just a single goal. If Barca had been 3-0 up at half time then not many would have complained.

Hiddink’s tactics can be marginally criticised but there is no dancing around the fact that his team got the job done. True enough they did not score themselves but the succeeded in keeping out one of the most talented attacks at the other end.

The draw allows Chelsea to go into the second leg in London with a more expansive attitude. They have played their disciplined performance to keep things level for when they unleash the atmosphere of Stamford Bridge.

Barcelona also picked up a key injury when defender Rafael Marquez pulled up with not a single person near him before hobbling off with what looked like an intensely painful knee injury. Josep Guardiola will no doubt have a headache or two over which tactics to deploy in West London but his side showed last night the dominance over a game they are capable of.

This game could well go right down to the wire. Barca are not going to go to West London and park the bus in front of goal the entire night and neither will Chelsea. If Chelsea play with half the discipline and passion that each of their players showed last night then they could well run away with the tie.

However, the match showed why Barca are touted as European favourites. If Chelsea have an off night in the return leg then it could well be a cricket score victory for the Spanish side.

One thing is for certain, we are in for a special game this time next week.

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