PREVIEW | Chelsea v FC Barcelona
Stamford Bridge has been the venue of some epic battles this century between FC Barcelona and the side that graces the famous stadium, Chelsea. Clashes between the blaugrana and the likes of John Terry, Didier Drogba, Gianfranco Zola and José Mourinho are etched in recent memory, and this Tuesday 25 November at 8pm local time, 9pm CET, the latest chapter in the story is sure not to disappoint either.
While some of the most famous encounters between the teams have come at the 'business end' of the competition, this latest meeting may 'only' be in the League Phase, but it is no small matter either. As things stand, the two teams sit neck and neck on 7 points in Europe's premier club competition, two adrift of the top eight positions. It means that whoever loses today would be in serious trouble of missing out on a direct ticket to the last sixteen, with just three more games to come after.
Head to head
This will be the 18th time that Barça have faced Chelsea in a competitive match. In fact, Inter Milan (19) is the only team that the Catalans have faced more. In the first decade of this century, games were almost an annual affair. And what games they were!
In 2000 there was that thrilling quarter final when Barça turned around a 3-1 defeat in the first leg by winning 5-1 after extra time, while in 2005 the reverse happened as Chelsea bounced back with a 4-2 victory at Stamford Bridge.
The following seasons brought further meetings between the teams in the knockout stage, Ronaldinho and Messi produced their magic as Barça edged tense encounters both times, so a fierce rivalry had developed when they met yet again in the 2009 semi-final, the most famous clash of all. Andrés Iniesta's last second winner at Stamford Bridge is now regarded as one of the greatest moments in Barça's entire history, while many Chelsea fans are still fuming today over certain refereeing decisions they say didn't go in their favour.
The Londoners got their revenge in 2012 en route to winning the trophy for the first time ever, but since then the rivalry has only been renewed on one further occasion, in 2018 when for once there was a comfortable winner, Barça by 4-1 on aggregate.
Chelsea
The Blues have won the Champions League twice, most recently in the pandemic hit year of 2021. That victory earned them the right to play at the Club World Cup last summer, where they earned the right to call themselves champions of the world thanks to that impressive destruction of the mighty PSG in the final.
Chelsea are a side that spent most of their 120 years of existence in the shadow of London's two most successful sides, Arsenal and Tottenham, winning just one league title (1955) and the occasional cup. But the turn of the century brought a resurgence and foreign investment, and they suddenly Chelsea was one of Europe's most talked-about teams.
Domestically, things have gone a bit off the boil in recent years. It's nearly a decade since they last won the league, but they are currently second behind Arsenal in the Premiership and on a run of three consecutive wins without conceding a single goal.
Their UCL record closely mirrors that of Barça. Two wins, one disappointing draw (Qarabag) and one excusable defeat to a continental giant (Bayern).
Team news
Barça are famed for their reliance on youth talent, but the current Chelsea squad is even more outstanding in that regard. Astonishingly, coach Enzo Maresca has gone for 50 league games without naming a single player aged over 30 in his line-up, including the extraordinary young Brazilian Estêvão Romeo, who we are all excited to see on the same pitch as Lamine Yamal for the first time.
But Chelsea have a number of injury concerns, and will be without the hero of the Club World Cup Final, Cole Palmer as well as Romeo Lavia, Dario Essugo and Levi Colwill, with question marks over the fitness of one or two other players too
Hansi Flick (click here for his pre-match views), meanwhile, was able to welcome back both goalkeeper Joan García and striker Raphinha from injury at the weekend, with the former certain to start in London but the latter possibly not (Raphinha was the player chosen to represent the team before the media yesterday). Marcus Rashford has recovered from flu and will be travelling to his home country and Frenkie de Jong is also back after sitting out the 4-0 defeat of Athletic at the weekend through suspension.
Pedri, Gavi and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are now the only unavailable Barça players, important losses all three, but things are looking a lot better in the injury department than they did a month ago.
Buoyed by the fact that they are now just one point off the top of the Liga table, it's time for Barça, with 1,700 fans in the stadium to support them, to start taking their fine form onto the continental stage. It's going to be a cracking game, and as Flick insisted on Monday evening, the perfect chance for Barça to show Europe just what they can do...