Chelsea and Barcelona have played out some classic Champions League matches down the years.
The two clubs went head-to-head during the 2005-06 Champions League Round of 16. For many English football fans, this was the first time they’d watched Lionel Messi in action.
Messi, who was just 18, produced a brilliant performance in the first leg at Stamford Bridge as Barcelona recorded a 2-1 win thanks to a John Terry own goal and a late Samuel Eto’o strike.
Barça then finished the job in the second leg at Camp Nou, progressing to the quarter-finals following a 1-1 draw.
The Catalan outfit eventually went all the way in the Champions League that season, defeating Arsenal 2-1 in the final at the Stade de France in Paris.
Years later, a Chelsea scouting report on Barcelona’s 2005-06 team attributed to Jose Mourinho leaked online.
It contained detailed and fascinating analysis on every aspect of Barça’s style of play: offensive and defensive organisation, offensive and defensive transitions, set plays and a section called ‘Individual Appreciation’ in which a verdict was provided on all of the opposition players - their strengths, weaknesses and other traits.
Mourinho was reportedly furious by claims that the report had been written by him.
"I am sorry to disappoint those who think I wrote the reports, but I did not,” he told The Sun. "The reports are not mine. I did not write them.
"The last report I wrote I have it at home. I was in Barcelona and this was in the 1999/2000 season.”
However, a source close to Mourinho confirmed the report had been compiled by the Portuguese coach’s assistant Andre Villas-Boas, who went on to manage Chelsea and Tottenham.
Regardless of whether the author was Mourinho or Villas-Boas, the report still sums up the thoughts of Chelsea’s backroom staff at the time.
And there were some eye-opening comments made about some of Barcelona’s best players.
On Carles Puyol: “Aggressive but very emotional. Gets crazy with the referee in fouls against him and goes mad in provocations. Aggressive defender, plays in anticipation using body. Bad positional sense (comes to midfield with striker) and bad leadership of defence (wants to do offside when it’s not possible). Because he uses his body strength to regain possession we can provocate contacts in the final third or outside the box. Good heading ability and power.”
‘Bad leadership of defence’ is certainly not a criticism that many would have levelled at Puyol, who is one of the greatest captains in Barcelona’s history. But ‘aggressive and very emotional’ was probably a fair assessment.
On Oleguer: “Makes mistakes with the ball making him ideal target for pressure. Defensively poor, has no pace and chooses his timings of the tackle poorly. When he tries to recover it is too late. No Speed, ideal to kill in diagonals.”
It seems Villas-Boas identified Oleguer as Barça’s weak link.
On Andres Iniesta: “Always comes on from the bench. Very dynamic player. Great radius of action. Speed of movement and speed of execution. Tricky player.”
Iniesta hadn’t yet hit his peak but Chelsea were acutely aware of the midfielder’s quality.
On Ronaldinho: “Technical quality to avoid defender on first touch. When opened receives the ball and the attacks full-back 1 vs 1 (inside to shoot or outside to cross). Much more dangerous when provocating spaces inside (between lines) from those positions forces a central defender out and then with a pen. pass releases Messi, Eto’o or the penetrating midfielder. Very poor defensive transition and defensive work - exploit. Constant cheater - falls easily.”
The last part of that analysis is particularly noteworthy. Chelsea looked to exploit Ronaldinho’s reluctance to get back and defend. ‘Constant cheater’ seems a bit strong, but they clearly felt the Brazilian had a tendency to go to ground easily.
On Lionel Messi: “Quality + speed but very left footed. Exactly the same behaviours as Ronaldinho. Inside between lines or diagonals. Encourages team forward by ball driving. Amazing 1 vs 1. If option is to foul him it’s important to do it outside the box and as early as possible. [Has] recovered from an injury recently.”
That’s superb. Basically, foul Messi as quickly as possible before he gets into the penalty area. And if one of our players finds himself one-on-one with the Argentine, it won’t end well for us.
The word ‘Fouls!’ was written in the ‘Offensive Organisation’ section on Messi, which explains why Chelsea’s players tried to kick him out of the game at Stamford Bridge.
Asier Del Horno was shown a straight red card for a challenge on the South American.
On Samuel Eto’o: “Explosive and aggressive with or without the ball. Skills in tight spaces. Chases, believes and keeps high-intensity rhythm throughout all game.”
Eto’o went on to score the winning goal in the first leg, while Mourinho signed the Cameroonian striker for the Blues years later.
You can view the scouting report here…
(Credit: Performance Analysis in Action)