Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has said that the defensive performance against Barcelona took a lot out of the players after the match. It has always been acknowledged that teams cannot defender for the whole 90 minutes because the concentration one has to put into the matches usually saps up the energy.

Chelsea had a wonderful defensive display against Barcelona, as they managed to keep out the Spanish opponents, who are regarded as the best team in the world. Chelsea then managed to get a goal on the counter-attack through star striker Didier Drogba. Chelsea will be heading into the second leg of the semi-final at the Camp Nou knowing that they can play for a draw.

Chelsea interim manager Roberto di Matteo rested a number of players for the visit to Arsenal during the weekend, while Barcelona were defeated yet again in the Spanish la Liga. Barcelona lost 2-1 to archrivals Real Madrid in the latest El Clasico – a defeat that leaves them seven points behind the leaders in the race for the title. Barcelona manager Guardiola has said that they will now be focusing entirely on the Champions League. Chelsea had just 29 percentage of the possession during the first leg encounter – a statistic that has had a psychological toll on the players according to goalkeeper Petr Cech.

“It’s not easy because we are not used to playing games when we don’t have the ball. Psychologically it’s very tough to keep focused and keep our discipline without making mistakes. But we did it. As a whole team we did what we could. We fought from the first minute to the last and we’ve done the maximum we could do against such a great side,” Cech said ahead of the second leg encounter with Barcelona. A goal for Chelsea at the Camp Nou would mean Barcelona have to score three goals in order to progress.