Chelsea hold Barcelona to a narrow victory.
Playing at home, the English side take the lead and will advance to the final if they draw at Camp Nou.
247 - It was exactly as expected: even away from home, Barcelona attacked. And Chelsea defended. Very well, it must be said. The English club opened the tie that will decide one of the Champions League finalists with a humble 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge and takes the advantage to Camp Nou, which hosts the second leg between the two teams next Tuesday.
The attack versus defense game saw many successes for Chelsea and errors for Barcelona, who couldn't put the ball in the net despite their traditional 70% possession. It was better for the English side, who capitalized on a counter-attack led by Brazilian Ramires to score through Senegalese Drogba.
The goal scored in the first half, in the 47th minute, came from Chelsea's last shot on goal in the game – indeed, the English side didn't threaten Barcelona's goal even once in the second half. It was enough, however, to inflict Barcelona's third defeat of the season – the other two were in La Liga, against Osasuna and Getafe.
With this result, Chelsea will qualify with any draw in the second leg and could spoil the dream final between Barcelona and Real Madrid – who also lost their first semi-final match, 2-1 to Bayern Munich.