As the minutes slipped by in the second half at the Vicente Calderón and Atlético Madrid's attempts to penetrate Chelsea's eight-man defensive double-blanket dissolved into an apparently insatiable desire to test the elastic force contained within Gary Cahill's forehead, it seemed a little bizarre that this match had been billed quite widely as a meeting of two Spanish centre-forwards.
Never mind that even before this beautifully engineered, unapologetically cussed 0-0 draw José Mourinho's last four Champions League semi-finals with Chelsea had produced only three goals between them. Forget for now the innate steely-eyed resolve of both teams. Optimism is an unavoidable sporting affliction and from a certain angle it looked a seductive story.
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