...... is that all you take away?!?!!?!?
Take a look at the left hand side of the picture. Those empty seats WERE reserved for the fans from The Mestalla. Seems to me they didn't think the journey from the 'small town in Spain,' was worth the effort!!.
Apart from Silva's stunning goal, obviously it wasn't or was it!! 1-1 and away from home, but didn't Valencia score 2 in the last round and was unable to score anymore in the second leg in the 'hotbed' that is the Mestalla!!!
Put aside the fact that UEFA should have kicked Valencia out of the competition after the disgraceful incidents against Inter and Hernan Crespo (had it been Chelsea, I KNOW I wouldn't be writing this now), Valencia are still in the competition and Chelsea have to deal with it, and boy do they have to deal with it.
Okay. Chelsea conceded the 'away' goal that we didn't want to concede. But you have to agree the goal was something special and to beat Petr Cech, any goal that Chelsea concede has to be special.... funny really, since Petr returned from his horrific injury he has conceded ten goals in SIXTEEN games and only two (which was the Liverpool game, the game he made his comeback) in EIGHT Premiership games. So work the maths out, the remaining eight goals conceded have come in EIGHT other matches which have all been cup-ties.
Last night's result wasn't a good result for Chelsea, but it isn't the disaster that everybody including Valencia are predicting for less than a week's time. The Mestalla can be a 'hot' and an intimidating place to visit, but Jose has been there, worn the t-shirt and we have got the result this season at the Nou Camp, when everybody said that the 1-0 victory at the Bridge wouldn't be enough.... but where are Barca now, out of Europe and crying into their Catalan coffee. (Yeah I know the draw was in the Group stages, but Chelsea WON the group!!)
Last night I didn't think that 'lightning' would strike twice. It did, just like the first half against Porto. Chelsea struggled and although Kalou hit the bar, the incompetent ref should have given Chelsea a penalty when Ayala hoofed the 'Shev' to the ground just before Kalou's effort.
In the second-half Super JT should have got a penalty when he was dragged down, but the Canary impersonating ref refused to buckle.
Like the Upper tier of the Shed, my seats in the Upper tier of the Matthew Harding Stand were superb and I could clearly see that the throw-in that led to David Silva's stunning strike should have gone to Chelsea... are UEFA plotting again???
My only complaint about the support in that Upper tier is... there wasn't any. So many 'plastics' and JCL's, especially in my section but all around us everybody was well in the mood!! The only voice I could hear was my own and my son... who was getting just as frustrated as I was.... now I can see for myself what I was like when I was his age going to Chelsea. Bless him.
Chelsea was a far better team in the second-half and Dids FINALLY got his 30th goal of the season and I felt that if we could have scored the 2nd, we could have gone on and got one or two more.
So Valencia think again... if you reckon you are in the semi-finals you are asking for trouble. You are dealing with Jose and his merry blue men who DO NOT know how to die, especially with the injuries, trauma that has been suffered this season.
If Chelsea do not make it to the semi-finals I and many others will be at Earls Court on semi-final night 1st leg to watch WWE Wrestling, heheheheh!!