Chelsea 3-0 FC Barcelona: Defeat in London
FC Barcelona and Chelsea have enjoyed some amazing battles over the years, but the latest clash is one that Culers will prefer to forget. On a cold night at Stamford Bridge they were soundly beaten, 3-0, on a night when they had to play the entire second half with ten following Ronald Araujo’s red card.
It simply wasn’t Barça’s day. The team never quite clicked, and paid the penalty against a young, talented and extraordinarily fast-paced Chelsea side that were worthy winners on the day.
The result leaves Hansi Flick's side with just seven points out of a possible 15 in the League Phase, meaning they can’t afford any more slips-ups in their final three games if they are to claim one of the top eight places and a direct ticket to the last sixteen.
Araujo red
The game-changing moment came a minute from half-time when Araujo made the kind of tackle on Marc Cucurella that was always going to be a yellow card, and as he already had another from earlier, that meant red. There were no arguments. The Uruguayan had to go.
But Barça were already struggling before that happened. Ferran Torres squandered a simple chance after just five minutes. Had that one gone in, who knows how the game might have panned out?
But it went maddeningly wide, and from then on and practically all the way through to the final whistle, almost all of the meaningful football was in the direction of Joan García’s goal.
Hard struggle
Chelsea had already found the Barça net two times before they did score, the first disallowed for handball and the second for offside. But on 32 minutes the ball crossed the line for the third time and this time it counted.
Former blaugrana Cucurella whipped in a cross following a corner and there was all kinds of confusion before Jules Kounde ended up helping the ball into his own net.
A goal down and a man down against the world champions… Barça had a mountain to climb in the second half.
Defeated
Things were about to get worse. Chelsea had a third goal disallowed before they did extend their lead, Brazilian starlet Estêvão dancing his way through the visiting defence and finishing off in spectacular fashion.
On 73 minutes it was game over when substitute Liam Delap made it 3-0 to the Londoners, and with little hope of getting a result out of this one, Barça were left with the dilemma of thinking it might make more sense just to protect further damage to their goal difference, which could well be a decisive factor when the final positions get decided.
Joan García proved fundamental in that department with a series of fine saves as Chelsea relentless pushed for more. The Barça reaction never arrived, and the final whistle eventually came as something of a relief. Barça had lost three, but it could have been a lot worse.
Next up in the Champions League Eintracht Frankfurt come to Spotify Camp Nou on December 9. After that there’s Slavia Prague away and Copenhagen at home. It looks like Barça and now going to have to win all three. Perfectly doable... So let's go out and do it.