Chelsea midfielders Michael Ballack and Michael Essien dismiss Barcelona's moans

01 May 2009 09:15
Chelsea set out their stall to stifle Barcelona's talented players effectively but Andres Iniesta claimed Ballack should have been sent off, while Xavi, Yaya Toure and Gerard Pique all accused Chelsea of persistent and deliberate fouling.[LNB]However, Chelsea's midfield enforcers on the night were in no mood to apologise and have promised more of the same when the Catalan side visits London next week.[LNB] Related ArticlesChelsea tell Mikel to wait on contractDelicious uncertainty of Champions League semi-finalsWill Ancelotti actually take the Chelsea job?Barcelona academy sets the standardAncelotti moves closer to ChelseaGerard Pique: Chelsea rewarded for negativity against Barcelona'In modern football you need to be strong,' said Essien. 'That is the way we play. Any time we tackled them they seemed to fall over.'[LNB]Ballack echoed his team-mates assessment, claiming Barcelona's gripping was simply a function of Chelsea becoming the first team this season to stop the Champions League favourites from scoring on their home turf.[LNB]'Oh! That's always how footballers react if they don't get what they want,' said the German.[LNB]'That's football and they should know that. Maybe they expected us to roll over for them – and because we didn't they don't think it's fair.[LNB]'What can I say? That's part of English football, physical football. It's not like we've gone there not wanting to play, as they've been saying.[LNB]'But if you go to the Nou Camp you have to know how you have to play. It's not about giving them an open game because that is what they want.[LNB]'You have to play differently against Barcelona than you do against Liverpool. That was also part of our strategy. The coach spoke with us and put the game plan in place, telling us how we had to play.[LNB]'Every team has its strengths and weaknesses. We know the strengths of Barcelona and so for us it was the game we expected. We showed what we wanted to do with what we did there.[LNB]'They can say what they want about us if they want. But we know our strengths. Even if they spend the next week trying to provoke us we have our strategy for the home leg.[LNB]'We have to be focused in exactly the same way we were in the first leg. We know we can surprise them and be even more difficult for them to play against here than we were at the Nou Camp.'[LNB]Iniesta's had also raised questions over referee Wolfgang Stark's objectivity in failing to send of a compatriot in Ballack, something the German again dismissed as sour grapes.[LNB]'He's a great footballer and doesn't need to speak like this,' Ballack told the Sun newspaper. 'It wasn't a game where we needed to speak about the referee. He did a great job.[LNB]'It's always difficult to make 100 per cent of the decisions right, no matter for what team. But the big decisions were right. He gave both teams two yellow cards.[LNB]'There's no point in talking about him and I don't know why they are doing this.'[LNB]'If you look at the games they've had against English sides, it seems that they do not find it easy to deal with the power we have.[LNB]'United showed it last season, drawing 0-0 there and winning 1-0 at home and we've now shown it again, in the Nou Camp. Yes, they have fantastic players, fantastic technical players, at an outstanding level.[LNB]'But if they play against a team like us or United, who are physically very strong and organised, who are experienced defending teams, it is much more difficult for them.'[LNB] 

Source: Telegraph