Barcelona fume as Michael Ballack vows to finish them off

Angry Barcelona players have accused Chelsea of adopting negative tactics last night as Michael Ballack warned he would help to end the Spanish club's season next week.

The first leg of their Champions League
semi-final ended in a goalless draw as Chelsea became the first team this season to stop Barca from scoring at the Nou Camp.

The result drew strong criticism from midfielder Andreas Iniesta, who claimed Guus Hiddink's team "did not try to play any football".

But Ballack feels Barcelona, who lead La Liga by four points from Real Madrid with the sides meeting at the Bernabeu this weekend, will have their interests at home and in Europe ended over the next seven days.

He said: "We know they have a really difficult game against Real before they play us again. If you see what has happened to them in the last week and what they face next week, it is really difficult for them. They can win a lot but they can also lose a lot."

The second leg is in a week's time and while Chelsea can afford to rest some players against Fulham at the weekend, Pep Guardiola must select his strongest team. Ballack feels this will only benefit Chelsea, who are now prioritising the Champions League. Ballack added: "We had this problem ourselves a couple of years ago against Liverpool when they rested eight players. Now we have to look at ourselves. The League is very difficult for us to get back on top so we are focused on the Champions League.

"We don't just want to reach the final, we want to win it. You could see by the team spirit we showed that everyone wants to get to the final again."

But Iniesta insisted Chelsea don't deserve to be in the final in Rome next month because of their lack of attacking threat at the Nou Camp. He said: "We tried to play our football but when the team in front of you do not want to play football, it becomes complicated."

Right-back Daniel Alves added: "They will have to sweat blood if they want to eliminate us."

Guardiola also felt Ballack was lucky to stay on the pitch.He added: "Ballack played in an aggressive way throughout but we are a clean team. The referee didn't have his best night."