How would you stop the Barca juggernaut?

How to stop Lionel Messi? (Picture: AP)

CHELSEA face an in-form Barcelona tomorrow morning (Singapore time) in the Champions League semi-final at the Nou Camp, and for the Blues, the match could not come at a worse time.

While the Premiership club have been revitalised with the appointment of interim coach Guus Hiddink, chalking up 11 victories in the Dutchman’s 15 games in charge, they face a Barcelona that had all but swept aside Bayern Munich in the previous stage of the competition.

A particular area to note would be Chelsea’s left flank.

Leftback Ashley Cole is suspended for the first-leg, after receiving a yellow card in the second-leg quarter-final against Liverpool. That flank just so happens to be the favourite hunting ground for Barca’s wonderboy Lionel Messi, who has grown from strength to strength this season, and surely a shoo-in for one of the contenders for the World Player of the Year award this season.

Without Wayne Bridge, who has since departed for Manchester City, Hiddink seems to be thinking of using Bosingwa to keep the mercurial Argentinian in check.

Problem is, Messi isn’t the only problem that Chelsea have to face. Strike partners Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry have been prolific in front of goal this season as well, scoring 27 and 17 goals respectively.

Given the situation, what would be your strategy if you were Guus Hiddink?

Terry-able against United

MANCHESTER United consigned Chelsea to their heaviest defeat at Old Trafford last night with a 3-0 victory over the Blues, with goals coming from Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.

THE POSTMAN LIM SAY HENG says: What was more worrying was how Chelsea conceded the goals, even with their first-choice central defensive pairing of John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho back. All three goals, plus the disallowed header by Cristiano Ronaldo came from crosses from the flanks.

By most accounts, Terry and Carvalho would have eaten up these crosses easily, especially the England captain, whose superb aerial ability is reknown. So what happened last night?