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    Steve Holland • Champions League tactics, Chelsea 1 Barcelona 0 • Masterclass
    World Cup 2026

    Steve Holland • Champions League tactics, Chelsea 1 Barcelona 0 • Masterclass



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    Three years after Barcelona got the better of Chelsea in a controversial Champions League semi-final encounter, the two sides reconvened at the same stage of the 2011/12 tournament.

    The Blues had started that season managed by Andre Villas-Boas, but the Portuguese head coach had been replaced by Roberto di Matteo by the time this tie came around. Remaining at the club as assistant manager, however, was Steve Holland.

    In this exclusive Masterclass with The Coaches’ Voice, Holland – now working alongside Gareth Southgate with the England men’s national team – revisits the first leg of what became an iconic Champions League clash. He gives a fascinating insight into the team selection and tactics the Chelsea coaching staff employed to both limit the attacking influence of Lionel Messi and maximise their own threat at the other end of the pitch.

    The result was a 1-0 victory that gave the team something to defend in a dramatic second leg at the Camp Nou only six days later.

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    #chelsea #barcelona #championsleague #thecoachesvoice #tactics #masterclass

    View 49 Comments

    49 Comments

    1. Joe Thomas on

      I was at this game and I can only thank Steve, Roberto and all the players for giving me the opportunity to say that I’ve seen Messi play in the flesh and get beaten by Chelsea

    6. gtens on

      Was my first season supporting Chelsea and I remember waking up late into the night just to watch the game and bloody hell was it a wild ride. And the second leg at Camp Nou was simply ridiculous. Steve Holland, a Chelsea legend! He's won the lot!

    12. Bob Clunt on

      Chelsea ain’t been the same since Steve left in 2017. He was one of the key voices of the changing room and a overall good coach to have in the dressing room for tactics but also like I said a needed voice if the team needed a kick up the ass

    21. Bri Brave on

      Chelsea performed brilliantly in this tie. I love the ways Torres put the final coffin in the nail to kill off Barca in the second leg.

      Against all odds, 10 man Chelsea prospered.

    26. Miguel Porras on

      What a great explanation. And the funny thing is that there are some people who say there is no genius behind defence.

      Chelsea played taking account of their technical disadvantage, and also capitalized pretty well Barcelona's weaknesses and spaces left for counter attack.

      Guud Hiddink in 2009 and Mourinho in 2010-2011 both drew the blueprint to defeat this great team, but both had superstellar squads who managed to control the dynamic of the game, giving almost no chances to Barcelona (Mourinho's Real Madrid managed the game quite well until Pepe was expelled) and hurting then more than this Chelsea team did. Di Matteo and Holland did it with a less talented group of players, ageing superstars, great mentality and their fair share of luck. But I'd rather win with luck than winning with referees' help like Barcelona did in 2009 and 2011.

      I personally find Chelsea's Champions League victory as the last genuine epic victory in European football. Of course, until Leicester won against the odds and the FA…

      Great job as usual

    30. Gregory Saragih on

      its funny that both Steve Holland and Mourinho Masterclass videos are talking about how to contain Messi (or talking about how they beat a peak Barcelona).

    32. victor chuks on

      I drew up this exact formation 2 days before that match. Everybody both Chelsea and
      Barcelona fans were laffing at me how will Ramirez play left wing. I told them he is to check mate alves. Even with his speed alves would be careful in overlapping.. that day we were in gynaecology class

    36. mI Ka on

      This is probably one of those geek type football coaches who every top manager wants to have in their team. The fact that England are doing better than they were for 20 years speaks volumes. Chelsea winning the CL when he was there is another example of that
      I wonder how he would fare as a head coach rather than an assistant. Because not everyone has the same success

    38. M A R T on

      This wasn't the Barcelona that blew away teams, this was at the end of that era where they overplayed and they started losing that cutting edge. Fabregas for all his qualities hurt that team and made it too focused on possession, no amount of organization could beat the 2011 team which ripped through opponents. It was a Man City 2018 + Messi.

    42. Tim Gray on

      A really interesting thing to try with these videos is to have the opposing managers or coaches do these together. Would be great to not only see them discuss their tactics together but also so see how they think the opposing tactics worked and what they did to counteract their tactics

    44. shutup2 on

      of course they had steve do this because di matteo hadn't a clue just had a good squad at his disposal, steve was the real brains behind chelsea winning the champions league that yea

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