Barcelona joined the competition in the third qualifying round and beat Wisla Krakow by four goals to one over two legs. They went on to top their group narrowly edging ahead of Sporting Lisbon. Barcelona then dispatched the French and German champions with relative ease, with 6-3 and 5-1 victories over Lyon and Bayern Munich respectively. This brought them to a semi-final contest against Chelsea with whom they have had some tough battles in the past. A nil-nil draw in Spain was followed by an entertaining but controversial match at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea believed that they should have been awarded at least one blatant penalty and the Spaniards had Eric Abidal sent off.

Michael Essien’s scorching volley put the Blues ahead and Norweigan referee Tom Henning Ovrebo was kept busy during the match with both teams showing equal amount of skill and stealth. Many independent commentators considered the home team very unfortunate to approach injury time with only a single goal to their credit especially with more than one apparently valid penalty claim turned down by the Norweigan. Andres Iniesta struck a sucker punch in the third minute of injury time and Barcelona were in another European final. 

The aftermath of the goal was no less spectacular with Michael Ballack manhandling the referee after yet another denied penalty claim and Chelsea players surrounded the official at the final whistle with Didier Drogba the most vociferous of complainants and having to be physically restrained from further remonstrations with the referee. Further action will undoubtedly follow but the protests were to no avail.

Manchester United will face Barcelona.