Chelsea's defensive masterclass in defeat of Barcelona bodes well for England at Euro 2012 finals Chelsea's winning goal was scored by an African import, their swift counter attacking football facilitated by the speed and skill of a Nigerian, two Spaniards and a Brazilian, but the victory was secured by a defence that contained three of the players who could make up England's back four at the European Championships. In skipper John Terry, his centre-back partner Gary Cahill and left-back Ashley Cole, Chelsea had three players who simply refused to allow Barcelona's superior skill and aesthetically pleasing passing game to break them. They led by example that the other players, not used to playing with such a stubborn streak, could follow. It was not particularly easy to watch, at times if felt like a 90 minute endurance test or a long game of defence versus attack, but it is hard to imagine many teams from other countries pulling it off. Roberto Di Matteo, Chelsea's Italian caretaker manager, has been in this country long enough to know how to play to our strength. He said before the game that Barcelona did not like playing against Chelsea and they will like it even less now. Barcelona were, and are, the better side. There is always the fear they will cut Chelsea to pieces in the return leg, that wave after wave of attack from arguably the best club side to have graced European football, will eventually prove too much to repel - but you wouldn't bet on it on the evidence of Wednesday night. So if a defence made up of three Englishmen can defy the best of the best, why can't England use the same foundations to mount a successful European Championship campaign? It certainly bodes well, but they have tried in the past and failed. In Germany in 2006, England probably had the best defence at the tournament and in Terry and Rio Ferdinand they possessed two of the outstanding centre-backs of their era. But whereas other countries, most notably Italy, but even Greece when they were the shock winners of the European Championships in 2004, use a well-organised and talented defensive line as the basis of their success, England have been unable to replicate it. Some of that is merely down to our inability to hold our nerve in a penalty shootout, but you also need to have players who can sit deep, lure the opponent on to them in ever increasing numbers and then pounce with speed and precision on the counter-attack. It takes skill and finesse to play counter-attacking football well enough to beat teams as good as Barcelona. Or Spain, or Germany or Holland. Chelsea did that superbly against Barcelona, their winning goal coming when Frank Lampard - another ageing Englishman - stole possession just inside his own half, set the speedy Ramires on his way with a through ball, who then picked out Didier Drogba with a tight pass that just about found its way through the retreating Barcelona defence. England need to find the players to do something similar if they are going to do more than just hold their own in Poland and Ukraine. Chelsea have shown England have the defenders, the rest of the Premier League still has to show it can deliver the attacking players to make the most of their rigid defiance at the back. The result on Wednesday night means Chelsea have a wonderful chance of reaching the Champions League final in Munich. England's chances of doing something similar in June look a little brighter as a result.