Chelsea v Barcelona: Pepe Guardiola's alchemists run into Stamford Bridge wall of stubbornness Lots of sides have tried this against football's finest ensemble. Chelsea, whose Premier League form has been so uneven, are among the few to make it work. Barcelona have not beaten them in six games stretching back to 2006. Sir Bobby Charlton told the Spanish media recently that every club in the world "should try to play like Barcelona." The trouble is, all the biggest ones are busy trying to stop Barcelona playing like Barcelona: a task that fell on Chelsea here like one of Gaudí"s buildings. There were a few scraps of comfort. Messi had not scored against them in six attempts (make that seven now). His record in England was one goal from 10 visits. And, er, that was about it. In other news, Messi had scored 41 times in La Liga this term, on 63 occasions for Barca overall and 68 times for club and country. His eight hat-tricks in this 2011-12 campaign must have struck terror into Gary Cahill, John Terry's partner at centre-back, who is only four months into his Chelsea career but was superb in the biggest game of his life. Messi kicked off in his black No 10 jersey and a slow pattern was set of blue Chelsea shirts in sentry positions before the game found its moment of electrification: a ball over the top, of all things, which Alexis Sánchez met, behind Terry and Cahill, and lobbed against the crossbar. Feet quickened, urgency increased and Chelsea sparked into action as Drogba, chosen ahead of Fernando Torres, launched himself down the centre-forward's channel off a broad and muscular midfield base. Drogba's stroked finish in first-half added time was yet another affirmation that Chelsea are happiest doing what they know best: thundering up the middle of the pitch with the Big D spooking defenders. Messi traipsed off at the interval grimacing. Barcelona's numerous missed chances (some of them his) seemed a total mystery to him, an offence against nature. They were to continue for another 45 minutes. This Champions League campaign has added urgency for Guardiola's total footballers, and not just because no team since AC Milan in 1990 have defended the European title. Real Madrid's superior consistency in La Liga has compelled their old enemy to pursue Champions League bounty with even greater conviction. Saturday's second league El Clásico of the season in Catalonia sits between these continental clashes with Roman Abramovich's club. In Di Matteo's wall formation and counter-attacking we saw a reversion to the tactics that gave Barcelona so much trouble in the eight matches between 2005-2009. Drogba tumbled, winced and play-acted. But he never lost the destructive intent he brings to his best work. A word to describe the effect of Barcelona's relentless ball-hogging on the opposition is debilitating. It requires an intellectual - almost spiritual - acceptance that the game will have to be won in the intermissions between Barcelona moves. Mourinho worked this trick on his players at Inter Milan. He made them understand the power of patience against the best team of this era. Inter shielded, waited, hounded, waited and then retaliated with lightning breaks. Mourinho's Real Madrid have tried that too - with a large dose of physicality thrown in - to no avail. Chelsea supporters are not used to watching visitors stroke the ball around here so greedily. By half-time they were singing songs about Spurs manager Harry Redknapp. Parochial chanting passed the time between Barcelona incursions. But there was no shortage of faith in the Chelsea half in the strategy they had laid out, even when Barca played the ball out of the tightest defensive spot with an unhurried triangular movement. Some of us still hold vivid memories of the distress Messi inflicted on Chelsea's Asier del Horno here in February 2006, when the world's best player was only 18. Del Horno was in such a state after half an hour that his left leg became a scythe. Out came the red card, after 36 minutes. Later, Mourinho suggested, ludicrously, that Messi should be in theatre. Football has reached the point where it thinks nothing can be done about Barcelona's brilliance, beyond trying to copy it, in the long term (Charlton's point). But history says no team is immune from all forms of pressure. Barcelona know they can always out-pass Arsenal, or even Manchester United. Chelsea, though, have a talent for disrupting their syncopation, for dishing out a bit of pain of their own.