First leg 27 April, Barcelona 2-0 Chelsea; Second leg 11 May, Chelsea 2-0 Barcelona (2-2 agg); Play-off 25 May, Barcelona 5-0 Chelsea
Having been beaten 2-0 in the first leg at Camp Nou, an ill-tempered match at Stamford Bridge looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw until Eladio Silvestre's sending off for a wild swipe at John Hollins late in the first half. The game turned the Blues' way thereafter, with the pressure telling on a defence in which the Uruguayan Julio César Benítez had been immovable. In the 71st minute Gallego deflected a Bobby Tambling header into his own goal (above) before a young Manuel Reina – the father of Liverpool's Pepe Reina – pawed Peter Houseman's speculative shot into his net to send the tie to a play-off. Barcelona won a coin toss to determine that the game would be played at Camp Nou, where the Catalans soundly thrashed Chelsea 5-0 Photograph: PA Archive
First leg, 5 April, Chelsea 3-1 Barcelona; Second leg, 18 April, Barcelona 5-1 Chelsea aet (6-4 agg)
A Chelsea team enjoying their first season in the Champions League ripped into the Spanish champions from the whistle at Stamford Bridge. Three first-half goals, including a delicious Gianfranco Zola free-kick, put them in a commanding position. But Luis Figo's away goal in the second half was vital … Photograph: Ben Radford/Getty Images
First leg, 23 February, Barcelona 2-1 Chelsea; Second leg, 8 March, Chelsea 4-2 Barcelona (5-4 agg)
José Mourinho had never suffered two losses in a row as manager until the narrow 2-1 first-leg defeat at Camp Nou (this followed a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle in the FA Cup), which was largely down to Didier Drogba's controversial red card (above) early in the second half … Photograph: Ben Radford/Getty Images
Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
First leg, 22 February, Chelsea 1-2 Barcelona; Second leg, 8 March, Barcelona 1-1 Chelsea (3-2 agg)
Chelsea found themselves playing Barça with 10 men again after Asier del Horno's first-half sending off for a foul (above) on a teenage Lionel Messi. It did not stop Chelsea taking the lead through Thiago Motta's own goal after 59 minutes, though. But, as in the first leg in the previous season, fatigue took hold and Barcelona once more took advantage, with Ronaldinho's free-kick deflecting off John Terry and into his own goal then Samuel Eto'o rising above Paulo Ferreira to head home Rafael Marquez's cross in the 80th minute … Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona
Barcelona pitched up at Stamford Bridge as European champions, having ended their 14-year wait for the trophy by beating Arsenal 2-1 the previous season. But it was Chelsea who extended their winning streak in the competition thanks to Didier Drogba's sublime turn and strike from outside the box at the beginning of the second half. Barcelona pressed and the unlikely hero was Chelsea's reserve goalkeeper, Henrique Hilário, who stepped in for Petr Cech after the Czech suffered a fractured skull against Reading, and made vital stops from Lionel Messi and Deco late in the second half Photograph: Ben Radford/Getty Images
Barcelona 2-2 Chelsea
This may not have been a knockout match but it had all the acrimony and excitement of one. Ten bookings, a delicious chipped equaliser from Frank Lampard and an Eidur Gudjohnsen goal against his former club would satisfy most neutrals. But Didier Drogba's turn and strike in the 90th minute made for an even better finish and allowed José Mourinho to dance all over the jeers of the 95,000 Catalonians as he bounced ecstatically down the touchline with the knowledge that his Chelsea side would have to spectacularly implode not to finish above Barça in the group Photograph: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images
First leg, 28 April, Barcelona 0-0 Chelsea; Second leg, 6 May, Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona
There was no José Mourinho to spice up this tie, instead just the steady hand on the tiller that was the Chelsea caretaker manager, Guus Hiddink. But that did not stop the second leg descending into an all too familiar angry and ill-disciplined affair. Having earned a deserved goalless draw at Camp Nou, Hiddink's side did the rarest of things and actually dominated Barcelona for large parts of the second leg, not just holding on to their 1-0 lead after Michael Essien's ninth-minute goal but increasingly looking likely to add to it. But after strong penalty calls were denied by the Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo, Andrés Iniesta smashed a rising 20-yard drive into the top corner to send Barça into the Champions League final and turn the air inside Stamford Bridge blue with the sense of anger and injustice Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
