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22 min: James dummies, then Estêvão swings the free kick into the box instead. The ball bounces all the way through to Fernandez, who heads home from a couple of yards at the far post. But the flag immediately goes up for offside. Fernandez denied again!
21 min: Garnacho is clipped by Kounde out on the Chelsea left. A clumsy challenge and a free kick in a dangerous position. Everyone lines up just inside the box, waiting for James to deliver.
20 min: The game’s settled down a little bit after that wild and wonderful start.
19 min: Neto, dropping deep, tries to release Gusto down the middle. Now it’s Garcia’s turn to race out of his area and blooter clear. No contact with his opponent, nothing to see here.
17 min: Thankfully Lopez is absolutely fine. There was no sinister intent from Sanchez, and luckily the blow was more glancing than anything else. All good.
16 min: Lewandowski looks long for Lopez down the middle. Sanchez races out of the box and high-kicks clear. He accidentally catches Lopez’s head on the follow-through. It’s not quite Toni Schumacher on Patrick Battiston, but Lopez will have felt that. On comes the trainer.
14 min: Yamal wanders past a couple of blue shirts with absurd insouciance, but then, having worked himself a pocket of space 25 yards out, shovels a pass forward to the invisible team-mate. Sanchez claims. Barcelona’s young superstar looks in the mood, though. So many silky touches already.
13 min: Yamal probes down the right. He sends an inswinger towards Lopez, who tries to sweep home from six yards. But he swishes and misses, then goes over under pressure from behind from Chalobah. Barcelona claim a penalty but they’re never getting one.
11 min: Yamal dribbles in from the right at speed. He can’t quite one-two his way into a shooting position, and the ball breaks to Lewandowski, who can’t get it out from under his feet. Chalobah blocks the eventual snapshot and Chelsea clear their lines. No way is this ending goalless.
9 min: James has a whack from distance. Easy for Garcia in the Barca goal. This is breathless. These two clubs rarely disappoint when they meet, one way or another, and the early signs tonight are good.
8 min: Cucurella strides down the left and looks for Neto in the middle with a low cross. Araujo hooks clear. This is a high-octane start from both teams. “Apparently Barça’s kit is ‘Team Gold colour with touches of Persian violet and black, inspired by the classic colours of the teams in which Kobe [Bryant] played’,” reports marketing-blurb enthusiast Charles Antaki. “So maybe vibes of Harlem Globetrotters-type basketball, or perhaps classic Wolverhampton Wanderers. Though for their sake, not the current lot.”
6 min: Barcelona should be leading. James plays a sloppy pass out from the back. Yamal intercepts and feeds Torres. He’s clear on the penalty spot! He opens his body and sidefoots towards the bottom-right corner … but wide! What a miss! Somewhere in the multiverse, it’s already 1-1. What. A. Start.
4 min: … there’s a scramble in the Chelsea box. Fofana chests down on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box and cuts back for Fernandez, who slams home from close range. But the flag immediately pops up for handball. Chest then ball. There’s not much in it, but the on-field decision stands. Barcelona couldn’t have complained too much had that stood.
3 min: It’s loud in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham tonight. Louder still when Estêvão wins the first corner of the evening down the right. From which …
2 min: A scrappy start. Chalobah rather needlessly stands on Lewandowski’s ankle. The striker goes over theatrically, some nonsense which may have saved the Chelsea defender a booking. Chalobah couldn’t have complained had the referee flashed yellow, but it’s early too, so either way, he gets away with one.
The coaches Enzo Maresca and Hansi Flick embrace … then the whistle goes and Chelsea kick off. Barcelona are kicking towards the Shed in this first half.
The teams are out! Chelsea wear their royal blue, while Barcelona sport a biscuity number with a dark-blue-and-black collar that gives off strong Internazionale vibes. You’d think they’d not want reminding about the Nerazzurri, given what happened earlier this year, but people deal with heartbreak in different ways. Anyway, a rip-roaring atmosphere at the Bridge, befitting a clash of two genuine European heavyweights, and we’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Here are the Champions League standings going into tonight’s match. The table is hot off the press, taking into account the results of both early kick-offs, which are just in and saw Benfica win the battle of the fallen giants 2-0 at Ajax, while Union Saint-Gilloise went to Galatasaray and emerged 1-0 winners. Ajax are now the only team in the competition without a single point, while Galatasaray miss out on the chance to join Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Internazionale at the top.
Chelsea and Barcelona are both just outside the promised land of the top eight, so tonight’s game at Stamford Bridge isn’t completely without jeopardy. Neither side will want to lose any more ground in the race to automatically qualify for the last 16 and bodyswerve the play-off round.
Enzo Maresca speaks to Amazon Prime. “[Estêvão] is doing well since he joined us … he is ready for tonight … we try to use different players … everything starts with the gameplan … they are all good players … we expect to have some space in behind … [Barcelona] are a fantastic team … quality players … all over … they work all together … they defend well … always create chances … we go game by game … after tonight we start to think about Arsenal [in the Premier League this weekend].”
Chelsea make five changes to their starting XI after the 2-0 win at Burnley on Saturday. Moisés Caicedo, Estêvão, Alejandro Garnacho, Wesley Fofana and Malo Gusto come in for João Pedro, Andrey Santos, Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens and Tosin Adarabioyo, all of whom drop to the bench.
Barcelona have plenty of goals in their starting XI. Ferran Torres leads the way with nine so far this season, while Robert Lewandowski has eight, Fermín López seven, and Lamine Yamal six. Marcus Rashford (six) and Raphinha (three) must make do with the bench.
The teams
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella, James, Caicedo, Estevao, Fernandez, Garnacho, Pedro Neto.
Subs: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Delap, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Hato, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Buonanotte.
Barcelona: Joan Garcia, Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde, Eric Garcia, de Jong, Yamal, Lopez, Torres, Lewandowski.
Subs: Szczesny, Kochen, Raphinha, Rashford, Christensen, Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Bardghji.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).
Preamble
For some, the modern rivalry between Chelsea and Barcelona will forever be defined by this ...
… and for others by this …
… but whichever way you prefer it, more often than not it delivers. Goals! Memories! Drama! Throw in Chelsea’s record of scoring in each of their last 19 European games, Barcelona finding the net in their last 24 Champions League fixtures, the fact that none of Chelsea’s last 52 European fixtures have finished 0-0, and the stat of Barca’s last 20 Champions League games producing an average of 4.8 goals per 90 minutes, and this promises to be a doozy. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT, and if by pointing out all of this, we’ve tempted the Football Gods into serving up a rare stinker, then we’ll make our apologies after the game. It’s on!
