Pat Nevin: The best laid plans

Like everyone with Chelsea close to their heart, columnist and former star player Pat Nevin can hardly wait for kick-off, so he is filling in the hours trying to read Roberto's mind… I am in something approaching a state of shock at the moment…still. The dream continued against all the odds when Barcelona came to west London last week, totally against the expectations of most people in the game. On this page I tried to consider how to stop the current European champions. I thought the best idea might be to look at how others approached the problem, particularly how an old friend thought about it tactically. Jose Mourinho himself with all the talent at his disposal at Real didn't fancy taking them (Barça) on in an open game of football last season, i.e. in the Champions League semi-final. He went for four defenders and three sitting midfielders in front of the back line to squeeze the area Barcelona prefer to attack through, specifically the area in front of the 'D' of the 18-yard line. Robbie Di Matteo obviously thought along the same lines when sitting Mikel, Meireles and Lampard right in that deep midfield area. I may have read the overall tactics perfectly last week before the game, but would never have considered the tactical masterstroke of moving Ramires to the left-hand side just in front of Ashley Cole and thus blocking all the space that Dani Alves usually flies into. Just as important, that adaptation meant there was a chance to utilise the space left behind Alves when he did try some of his marauding runs down the line. It worked a treat for the goal when Ramires darted down the left and produced the set up for Didier to score with his only real opportunity. As I say, it was a tactical master class that worked with bells on. RDM does choose the impassive sphinx-like look most of the time, but surely inside he was bursting with excitement and pride. Pride for his team but a little pride also for his own perfect reading of the game plan needed. It is hard to recall a more intense period of games in the history of the club. The two games against Barcelona, the Arsenal match on Saturday, the FA cup semi-final thrashing of Spurs, as well as that final to come on our return to the national stadium. Among the huge variety of interesting things to consider from this period are the different tactics and personnel that the manager has used for every game. Clearly he has needed to rotate, the Emirates on Saturday arguably being the most obvious case in point, but more often than not he has found a method to get the right result. Romeu, Bosingwa, Malouda, Sturridge, Bertrand, Essien and Kalou would maybe not be considered the first-choice starters at the moment but I think they made a decent fist of it at one of the toughest grounds in the world. Most importantly it was another 90 minutes with no goals conceded. So that is 280-odd minutes and only once has Petr Cech had to pick the ball out of the net, and remember that is against Spurs at Wembley, Arsenal at the Emirates and the European champions at the Bridge. Think of the quality forwards and midfielders who have been battering at the door, this is another incredible thought for Roberto Di Matteo to consider this week and remind the players of, just to boost the belief. It takes a huge effort from the entire team to keep great attackers at bay, but how good has the Terry, Cahill and Cech axis been? And of course there is likely to be no respite particularly in Spain for that particular triumvirate. The question will however go back to the tactics in the Nou Camp, it is even harder still to get a result against Barcelona in their own back yard, but I am already intrigued as to how Robbie will go for it this time. If Didier and Fernando are both fit, which one do you choose? Most would suspect Drogba, but playing on the break in these circumstances might just suit Torres better. Actually I think I will just trust Robbie on this one, he hasn't done too bad so far, but do not be surprised if there is just the odd bit of tinkering with the shape or the personnel yet again. Barcelona for their part had to decide what to do in El Clasico on Saturday night. Should they play the big names and leave them open to injury and tiredness or save them for the Champions League crunch game? In the end Guardiola decided that La Liga was fairly important so Messi, Xavi and Iniesta all played to varying standards at the Nou Camp. It was not only a defeat in the end to their greatest domestic rivals; it was a defeat at home and a surrender of their league aspirations. There is now without doubt an acceptance that this team can finally be 'got at'. The first Madrid goal from a pretty average corner kick underlined what many have thought for some time, the Barça defence is nowhere near as good as their attack. Once again any opportunity to get quality balls into the box when Cahill, Ivanovic, JT and others are on the end of it must be a big part of the Chelsea plan of action. Before the first leg I thought we would be massive outsiders, but as every day has passed in the last week there have been more and more reasons to be optimistic. From two Barça defeats, Chelsea's current fantastic run, the Spaniards' belief being rattled and also the minor dip in form of one or two of their star players, it has all been heartening. In particular Lionel Messi appears to me to be carrying a little injury that he picked up when he slipped near the end of the first half in the first leg at the Bridge. Maybe that will be the most vital aspect of this most important 90 minutes of the past few years for Chelsea. If Messi isn't 100% then he could once more struggle to break down that Chelsea back line. If he is on form and in the mood however, realistically we are still outsiders whatever Guardiola says, but the difference now is that we aren't massive outsiders anymore. So on to last week's quiz - who was the last Scot to score against Spurs for Chelsea? There were plenty of guesses, such as Charlie Cooke, Gordon Durie, Steve Clarke, David Speedie and little old me, as well as Craig Burley. The correct answer was however John Spencer back in 1994. He scored the third goal in a 4-3 home win against Spurs on 27 February that year. Lots of you got it right but there can only be one winner and this week, the studying recluse hidden away in the basement crept out into the daylight just long enough to stick a pin in the list and she came up with Andrew Wisniewski from Austin, Texas. Well done over there. This week, for a chance to win a copy of the Play Like Chelsea book signed by Petr Cech, could you tell me what would the combined score be if you added up all the Champions League games between Chelsea and Barcelona over the years? Answers as ever to me at pat.nevin@chelseafc.com Good luck with that and to all the team at the Nou Camp. The dream of getting to Munich as well as Wembley is still on.