We (my brother Tom and me) arrived with around thirty minutes to go before the kickoff, which shows the anticipation and excitement we were feeling, and took our seats at the back of the West Stand at the Shed end. We were horrified to see that our view of the goal at the other end was completely blocked by a floodlight. Needless to say we were delighted, especially as we'd been charged the same as people who could actually see the match. This is a subject that I'll get into another time, but it does illustrate the complete contempt with which Bates and Chelsea treat their paying customers.

The team consisted of De Goey in goal, Ferrer at right back, Thome and Desailly in the middle and Babayaro on the left. In midfield we had Wise, Morris, Petrescu and Deschamps, with Flo and Zola up front. Barcelona were ranging their big guns in attack: Rivaldo, Kluivert and Figo, plus various Dutch internationals like Frank De Boer and Philip Cocu, and a smattering of Spaniards to back them up. The overblown pre-match bollocks got under way, with the ridiculously pompous Champions League anthem blasting out of the speakers while the players pretended they were mates by shaking hands with each other. Meanwhile the ballboys were shaking a flag in the shape of a football around like they were airing a duvet. All very depressing in my opinion, but it wasn't long before both teams lined up and the whistle went. A huge roar went up as the game started; the atmosphere was fantastic.

The game went off at a frenetic pace, with both sides trying to establish ascendancy without much success. The deadlock was broken after fifteen minutes, when Deschamps fouled Luis Figo on the edge of the area. We looked at each other wide-eyed with terror as the ball was rolled to Rivaldo, who cracked it through a crowd of players towards the goal. I'm told that Ed De Goey dived to his right to parry, and then was up on his feet immediately to miraculously save a piledriver of a followup from Gabri, but I can't verify that as I couldn't see because of the bloody floodlight. I yelled out "Which bastard sold me this seat ??" in my frustration, which got a sympathetic laugh from the other people around us who were suffering the same fate.

The game went on with both teams probing, and there were promising signs from Zola that he was able to get the better of his marker. It was noticeable that Barcelona base their entire gameplan on supplying their front men, leaving just one man back most of the time, so Zola found himself with more room that he would normally be allowed. You can't get away with that with Franco, and it wasn't long before he opened the scoring, but not before Desailly had had a thumping header from a Zola cross brilliantly and almost impossibly saved by the Barca keeper at point blank range. We all gasped as one and held our heads, wondering if that would be our last chance of scoring.

Minutes later the ball was pumped in towards Flo on the dege of the box, but Figo got there first with a blatant and pointless hand ball. Zola could not have picked a better place for his free kick, slightly to the left of centre and three yards outside the area. It occurred to me that the keeper was much too far over to the right of his goal, trusting in his wall. We held our breath as the ref delayed the kick for the wall to be pushed back, then Zola strolled up to the ball and looped it with the inside of his foot, over the wall and into the empty corner of the goal. A classic free kick that he's practised hundreds of times, but never with greater effect. 35,000 people went absolutely crazy, jumping, diving around and screaming incoherently. We could hardly believe that Chelsea had gone one up against the great Barcelona. We couldn't have dreamed of what was to follow..

Only minutes later, Albert Ferrer found himself with space on the right, and threaded a through ball to Zola who was completely unmarked on the right side of the box. He pushed the ball forward and stabbed a sharp cross along the ground for Flo to run onto and slot home the ball with his first touch. I woke up this morning with a huge, black bruise on my thigh, which I got from falling over the back of the seat in front of me in the general delirium which ensued. When I had regained my place (nobody sat down for the rest of the match), I looked up at the night sky, yelling incoherently and savouring this incredible moment. It was mayhem, pure and simple, and there's no feeling like it.

The buzz after the second goal was fantastic, it was like pins and needles running up and down the spine, and we were still grinning at each other in amazement when Deschamps pumped the ball over the top of the defence for Flo to lob the keeper. The ball bounced twice before nestling once again in the net. The pure, savage joy of being three nil up against the best team in the world is impossible to describe. The buzz lasted through half time and well into the second half. As I stood at the urinal at half time, contemplating what had happened, complete strangers were engaging each other in jovial and familiar conversation, something that would be cause for concern if having a piss anywhere else, but all the rules and conventions seemd to have gone out of the window, and why not ?

We were to be brought back down to earth in the second half, as Barcelona got their act together and started to look threatening. Luis Figo in particular stood out, and was running Babayaro ragged, putting in some dangerous crosses towards Kluivert. With Rivaldo always lurking at the far post things were pretty tense. Fortunately Thome was on top of his game, keeping Kluivert out of the game to such an extent that he was eventually replaced. This proved unpopular with Kluivert, who appeared to gesture at his own fans as he went off. He stalked straight down the tunnel, ignoring Van Gaal and the bench. Needless to say we all mimicked holding up our handbags while whistling and generally needling him as he went. He was replaced by our old friend Dani, who scored against us last season at the Bridge while playing for Mallorca, I think it was - he eventually chose Barcelona over Chelsea, who were also interested in him.

At the other end, Zola was booked for uncharacteristically diving in the box - a harsh decision, as Zola is one of the most honest players you'll ever see. Again I can't give an opinion as I couldn't see, but the bloke down the pub afterwards reckoned it was "a diabolical liberty" - I rest my case. It's worth mentioning that generally speaking the entire game was played in a good spirit, without the blatant cheating we saw at times from Lazio, and it was appreciated by the crowd.

A few minutes later what we'd been dreading happened, as Barcelona put together four sublime passes that split Chelsea's defence open like a ripe chicken (thanks to Marc for that analogy), culminating in Figo slotting the ball underneath De Goey's body. It was a fantastic goal, and the sort of thing we had been expecting from Barcelona. It was a shame, as it now left Barcelona only needing to win 2-0 instead of 4-0 at the Nou Camp, but who's complaining ? I'd have laughed if you'd offered me odds on Chelsea coming out 3-1 victors before the match.

The encouraging thing was that Chelsea held their nerve after the goal. Predictably Barcelona surged forward chasing another goal, but it left them horribly short at the back, and a couple of times Chelsea nearly caught them out. Our defence stood firm, with Ferrer nullifying Rivaldo's threat (was Rivaldo fully fit ?), and the rest of the team rallying round. Sutton came on for Flo with a few minutes to go, but I'm here to tell him that the huge round of applause was for Flo alone. The final whistle eventually went, and we breathed a sigh of sheer relief. 3-1 !!

To sum up, I'm delighted that I was able to see what was undoubtedly the biggest game ever at the Bridge, matched by one of Chelsea's greatest performances. Every single Chelsea player gave their all, and it would be unfair to single out any of them for special praise. I worry slightly that some of them will have nothing left for the FA Cup semi final on Sunday, but what the hell, we've got a big squad, and it's only Newcastle, after all..

What do YOU think ? Want to add your point of view ? Here's your chance to send me some feedback. NB: Abuse from opposing fans will be laughed at and then ignored, so don't bother wasting your time. Considered, intelligent argument, presented in the spirit of friendly rivalry guarantees a response.