Barcelona art will overcome Chelsea's defence says Daniel Alves

02 May 2009 16:45
Suffocated by sheer weight of numbers, each flicker of promise doused by dogged, dour resilience, the hopes and expectations of an entire continent weighing heavily on his slender shoulders. Gradually fading into the background, Lionel Messi's travails provided the perfect allegory for Barcelona's struggle to emblazon Chelsea's defensive wall with their high art.[LNB]Swarmed over at every turn by yellow shirts, the world's best player, the slayer of the English, is likely to find himself similarly harassed in the return fixture. Hope remains in Catalunya, though, that strength is no match for subtlety, that Pep Guardiola's side, built to attack and electrify, can overcome the stultifying, scorned antifutbol of their opponents.[LNB] Related ArticlesBarcelona target strike duoHow Cech recaptured formFerdinand boost for UnitedFive ways Chelsea blunted BarcelonaPetr Cech hails defence as Chelsea quell BarcelonaBarcelona and Lionel Messi ready for ChelseaBrain, they believe, will always outwit brawn. It is an article of faith which permeates the club and one which, after last Tuesday's 0-0 draw at Camp Nou seemingly handed the initiative to Chelsea to set up a second successive all-English Champions League final, represents Europe's last stand in the face of Premier League dominion. Barcelona, though, have faced greater oppressors and remained true to their principles. They will not buckle now.[LNB]"We were hoping Chelsea would be more offensive, that's true," says Daniel Alves, the swashbuckling right-back who provides an incorrigible supporting act for Messi. "But their tactics in the first game were not a surprise.[LNB]"We believe, though, that you can beat physical strength with intelligence, and that's what we'll be looking to do against Chelsea and then against Arsenal or Manchester United in the final. We want to make sure there is no all-English final, no English win in Rome. We will use our intelligence to beat their force. The mind will overcome the body."[LNB]It is apt that Alves has bought so utterly into the Barcelona philosophy. More so even than Messi, the Brazilian symbolises Guardiola's new generation. He thrives on the physical challenge Chelsea present, combining graft with grace, power with poise. His field position is more akin to a right winger, a product of the English-style pressing game which Guardiola has introduced – if you can't beat them, join them, then beat them. Where Messi was hounded out of view on Tuesday, Alves, the power behind the Boy King's throne, grew as the night went on.[LNB]But while he warrants eulogy, there must also be admonishment. He spent almost as much time on Tuesday evening berating referee Wolfgang Stark, exchanging pleasantries with Didier Drogba and indulging in high-level histrionics after the lightest of brushes with anyone in yellow as he did supplementing his side's attacks.[LNB]It is an attitude – some would say attitude problem – which will hardly endear him to Stamford Bridge. Yet without it, Alves would be half the player he is. There is a bullishness to the Brazilian which cliché would dictate was instilled in him on the mean streets of Juazeiro, the backwater town in Bahia where he spent his youth. He struts and swaggers on the pitch as he does off it, the only notable difference the addition of boots and absence of the two diamond earrings.[LNB]Yet that brash, iconoclastic streak has not put off the suitors. Before Barcelona handed Sevilla £20 million – and another £5 million depending on his success in Catalunya – to make Alves deservedly the world's most expensive full-back, Chelsea had tried and failed to lure him to London on three occasions. Sevilla's president, Jose Maria Del Nido, likely one of the few people Alves has encountered brasher, more self-confident than he, insisted all three offers were substantially below his valuation.[LNB]Rafa Benitez, too, would have dearly loved the chance to harness Alves's energy, but, with the player ready to swap the Guadalquivir for the Mersey, missed out when Liverpool failed to meet Del Nido's £8 million asking price. On Tuesday night's evidence, it is not hard to see why so many consider Alves worth the risk.[LNB]The perfect snapshot of his gifts came with Chelsea clinging on for dear life, wave after wave of Catalan attacks crashing down on what was, by that stage, little more than an eight-man defence. He had been buccaneering on the right flank for 88 minutes, almost without pause, yet still Alves came again, finding the energy and accuracy to pick out Bojan unmarked in the six-yard box, only to see the teenage striker head over. It was a moment which, Alves feels, summed up Barcelona's night.[LNB]"Chelsea did well, of course," he says, "but we did get past their defence. Sadly, for one reason or another, mainly luck, our strikers could not score. They did a good job trying to stop us but it was more that we just couldn't score, not that we didn't have chances.[LNB]"The dressing room was upset after the game because we had a lot of chances and couldn't, or didn't, take them. But there is no time for complaints. We have to be active and aware of the next game. We believe we can score in London. They might be at home, but we have the advantage of being able to go through with a score draw. But we will go there not thinking about the draw but thinking about winning, wanting to win."[LNB]Such is the Barcelona mentality. The game plan, it seems, varies little depending on the locale. Chelsea, of course, will emerge on terra firma on Wednesday night with, presumably, a radically different style to the one which drew such derision in Catalunya. That is the test which awaits Hiddink's tactical acumen.[LNB]By triple-marking Messi – as well as deploying a right-footed left-back to deal with the Argentine as he cuts inside, a fillip likely to be removed by the return of Ashley Cole – and defending deep and in numbers, Chelsea could stem the tide. Such an approach is unlikely to be employed at home and the Dutchman will know opening up runs the potentially fatal risk of finally allowing Barcelona the space they need to run amok.[LNB]That, certainly, is Alves's belief. The Brazilian is too canny to reveal any glances of Chelsea's Achilles Heel – "even if we had seen a weakness we could exploit, I wouldn't say, because that would reduce our chances" – but it is hard to believe they will not find a way through, that, for a moment at least, the artists will prove too much for the artisans. [LNB] 

Source: Telegraph