Drogba's stunner enough to bury Barca
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Paranoia, as Didier Drogba continues to demonstrate, can be a powerful tool when it comes to winning football matches.
The Chelsea striker has already had to cope with the arrival of Andriy Shevchenko this season and only this week he muttered something about "everyone" having it "in for Chelsea".
Well, for as long as he continues to score goals of the quality he produced at Stamford Bridge, Jose Mourinho is unlikely to pull him to one side and quietly inform him that there is no need to worry.
Drogba produced the one piece of magic that separated these sides and so increased Chelsea's advantage at the summit of Group A.
The kind of magic that remains so alien to Shevchenko. His only contribution of note was a wasteful effort that drifted embarrassingly over the crossbar.
Mourinho would not have been too worried about that. Not when the welfare of Henrique Hilario would have been of far greater concern to a Chelsea manager fast running out of goalkeepers.
Fortunately for Hilario, a Barcelona side weakened by the absence of Samuel Eto'o and now in a slightly precarious position posed no more threat to his goal than they did to his head and gave the Portuguese goalkeeper a remarkably easy ride on his Chelsea debut.
Hilario had one or two saves to make, not least from Lionel Messi in the first half, but he executed them comfortably.
Until Drogba scored a minute into the second half, this lacked the intensity of previous encounters.
Very much a case, it seemed, of removing the pressure of the knock-out stages and with it the usual pre-match insults and so getting something rather less exciting.
Given the events of the last few days, that was perhaps understandable. Mourinho and his players have been preoccupied with the Petr Cech situation and have become involved in quite enough controvesry without starting another row.
For Barcelona, however, the lack of urgency was slightly more perplexing. They dropped two points in their previous Champions League encounter with Werder Bremen and could hardly afford to lose this one.
Rarely has a player enjoyed more support at Stamford Bridge than Hilario. The fans knew he was nervous.
They could see as much when his face appeared on the big screens moments before the start of the game. And they responded by giving him a huge cheer when he picked up the ball for the first time.
Barcelona sensed Hilario was nervous too and tried to test him when Edmilson shot from distance but the Portuguese goalkeeper calmly watched the ball drift wide.
Opportunities for both sides were limited for the opening 15 minutes. John Terry burst into Barcelona's half before delivering a teasing cross that was cut out by Carles Puyol and Shevchenko might have scored had it not been for a crucial intervention by Rafael Marquez.
That particular move started with a fine ball from Michael Essien and continued when Drogba guided a shot past Victor Valdes only for Gianluca Zambrotta to intercept.
Zambrotta squandered Barcelona's best chance to that point, missing the ball altogether after it has been delivered into the Chelsea penalty area by the determined Deco.
It was proving a little frustrating for the European champions, though. Ashley Cole more than had the measure of Lionel Messi, while Khalid Boulahrouz was doing an equally effective job in containing Ronaldinho on the opposite flank.
The Brazilian escaped the clutches of his Dutch tormentor at one point, but his chip floated over Hilario's crossbar.
Two chances that eventually fell to Messi were both dealt with by Hilario. A one-handed save in the 24th minute was followed by a similarly impressive effort six minutes later.
Two morale-boosting moments for the goalkeeper as well as his colleagues. Barcelona, nevertheless, remained rather subdued. Nothing like as bright as their orange shirts.
But Chelsea's clear desire to break forward did create openings for the Spanish side and at times the English champions appeared a little vulnerable.
They looked particularly vulnerable when Hilario flapped wildly at a high ball that was being contested by Eidur Gudjohnsen and the keeper was fortunate to see a foul given against the former Chelsea striker.
But this game lacked the intensity of past encounters — the fast-flowing football of the fiercely contested clashes Stamford Bridge has staged between these two sides for the previous two seasons.
Certain Chelsea players were once again struggling to make an impact. Not least Shevchenko and Michael Ballack. But with a two-point advantage at the top of Group A, Mourinho probably wasn't too concerned.
Slightly worrying, however, was the emergence of Messi as a threat in this match. He again carved out an opening for himself and was denied the chance to shoot only when Terry and Cole arrived simultaneously to make a crunching double-tackle. Drogba did so well to break the deadlock, controlling Cole's ball in from the left by taking it away from Puyol and Marquez with a delightful flick before unleashing a terrific right-foot shot that flew past Valdes for his eighth goal of the season.
It was soon after that moment that Shevchenko squandered his best opportunity and a little later that Drogba forced a fine save from Valdes when he probably should have scored. Enough to make him fear for his place again? Mourinho will certainly hope so.