FULL TIME: Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona
Chelsea - especially Willian - were marvellous tonight. On another evening, the irrepressible Brazilian winger would walk off with the match ball, having creamed shots off both posts in the first half. It looked like his one second-half goal would be enough, as his team-mates held their shape and defended well. But there’s no stopping that Lionel Messi in the Champions League, and it’s advantage Barca ahead of the second leg at Camp Nou.
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90 min +2: Drinkwater skittles Busquets in the midfield. He’s certainly made an impression on Barcelona since coming on.
90 min +1: Iniesta is replaced by Andre Gomes. “Chelsea may have played well and all that, but they’re not Dundee United though, are they?” asks Simon ‘four wins out of four’ McMahon. “Maybe if they had John Clark or Iain Ferguson on the bench...”
90 min: Busquets is booked for an outrageously cynical trip on Hazard as the Chelsea man dribbles down the middle of the park. There will be three minutes of added time.
88 min: Drinkwater clatters into Suarez in the centre circle. Suarez will need some attention. Barca take their time over the medical matters, much to the displeasure of Chelsea’s players and supporters.
87 min: Vidal dribbles into the Chelsea box down the right. He hooks into the centre for Suarez, but a friendly deflection loops the ball up into the arms of Courtois. Chelsea can’t afford to let Barca complete a smash and grab.
86 min: Hazard is stopped in his tracks as he bustles down the left. Free kick. Chelsea load the box, but take it short. Willian considers shooting, but there’s no room for him. The ball is teed up for Moses, who screws a weak effort wide left. Chelsea claim a corner from a deflection, but they’re not getting it, and Morata is booked for complaining a tad too much.
84 min: Drinkwater replaces Fabregas. Chelsea could do with a winner from him, as well.
83 min: Morata comes on for Pedro. Chelsea could do with a winner from him.
82 min: Umtiti faffs around in his own area instead of putting his boot through a clearance, and concedes a needless corner. Chelsea take it quickly, and hit it long. Rudiger meets it at the far post, but doesn’t quite connect. Half a chance. Maybe a third.
80 min: Rudiger is booked for a clumsy challenge on Sergi Roberto in the midfield. His studs skimmed off the top of the ball in a 50-50 challenge and clattered his man. For a second it looks like kicking off, but it all calms down quickly enough. Suarez the peacemaker, naturally.
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79 min: Stamford Bridge has fallen quiet. And no wonder: Chelsea had a golden chance to make it 2-0, and now look.
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77 min: Seconds before the equaliser, Suarez had gone over in the area. He was chasing a ball down the right, and had his ankles clipped by Rudiger. Maybe just outside the box, but there’s inches in it, and with Suarez falling inside the area you’ve seen them given, rightly or wrongly. Either way, it didn’t matter in the end, as Messi levelled after the next phase of play. Suarez was later booked for arguing the toss.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona (Messi 75)
Messi finally gets his first goal against Chelsea. Barca capitalise on a mistake by Christensen in the left-back position. A misplaced pass flies across the face of the area. Iniesta picks it up and drives into the box from the left, past a flailing Azpilicueta. He pulls the ball back to Messi, who slams into the bottom left from the spot!
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74 min: Some gloriously intricate footwork from Hazard in the centre circle. He flicks the ball to Willian on the right. Willian is in acres! He should play the ball inside to Kante, but hesitates and is stripped of possession.
73 min: Barca pitch tent in front of the Chelsea box awhile. But the men in blue are snapping at their heels, and closing every gap. There’s no way through. Iniesta tries to storm into the box down the inside left, but again the door is slammed shut. This is a marvellous defensive performance by the home side.
71 min: Willian gets a little treatment after taking a ball flush in his startled coupon. He’ll be fine to continue after a drenching with the magic sponge.
69 min: Suarez tries to get something going for Barca. But possession is lost, and Kante tears up the other end. He’s got Willian to his right, and should send him clear on goal, but the eventual pass isn’t all that. Willian still tries to get a shot away on the edge of the box, but Barca are back in number by this point, and the ball ricochets its way through to ter Stegen.
67 min: Messi picks up possession to the right of the D and glides to the left. For the second time tonight, he’s got a very brief window through which to shoot; for the second time tonight, he hesitates, and drops a shoulder in the hope of making more room instead. Chelsea crowd him out, like they did before.
65 min: Barca are pressing Chelsea back, having picked up the pace a bit. But there’s no route into the Chelsea area; the home side continue to look impregnable.
63 min: Barca respond immediately by swapping Paulinho for Aleix Vidal. Stamford Bridge is jumping!
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona (Willian 62)
A little bit of possession upfield for Chelsea. Fabregas has a shot from just outside the box. It’s not a good effort, but takes a little nick off a defender and it’s a corner. And from the set piece, the ball’s worked to Willian just outside the area. He takes a touch to the right, and from the edge of the D, whistles a firmly struck, out-and-in, low curler into the bottom right! He deserves that all right, after hitting both uprights in the first half!
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61 min: Another corner for Barca down the left. Once again, Rakitic sends it sailing harmlessly into the arms of Courtois.
60 min: Barcelona are down to just 71% possession now. Thing is, it’s Chelsea who can feel aggrieved at not being a goal or two up.
59 min: Suarez diddles Christensen down the left with an astonishing on-a-sixpence turn. He earns a corner. Rakitic takes it. Courtois catches it. From the sublime to the not very sublime.
57 min: This half hasn’t quite got going yet. Both sides will be happy enough with how it’s panned out, for differing reasons. “It’s a shame to see Suarez so quiet, considering he had one of the all-time most entertaining individual performances against Chelsea,” writes Matt Dony. “In the same game he bit Ivanovic, he also created a goal for Sturridge with an OUTRAGEOUS pass, conceded a penalty, and scored a last-minute equaliser. A quarter of that tonight (ideally not the bite) would light this game up.”
55 min: Barca continue to ball hog. Chelsea haven’t launched a serious attack since the restart.
53 min: Barcelona are dominating possession again, but not doing a great deal with it. Chelsea are holding their shape very nicely, as they’ve done all night. Ah hold on ... suddenly Iniesta bursts forward, slipping a pass down the left for Suarez, who breaks into the box and sends a low shot across Courtois towards the bottom right. Courtois gets light fingertips to it, and deflects the ball away from danger.
51 min: Pedro drives down the left and slips a ball forward for Hazard, just inside the box. Hazard falls with Umtiti behind him. The crowd scream for a penalty, but Hazard doesn’t, having slipped and fallen backwards under his own steam. The referee waves play on. Barca clear.
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49 min: Iniesta breaks through a Moses tackle and strides down the inside-left channel. He’s got Alba on the overlap, but instead opts to shoot for the top left from distance. Nope! Just for a second, though, memories of 2009 flashed through everyone’s mind.
47 min: Barcelona start the half by hogging the ball. Messi then slips a pass down the right for Sergi Roberto, who mishits his cross but nearly Koncheskys the ball into the top left. That would have been the fluke to end all flukes. Goal kick.
And we’re off again! Barca get the ball rolling for the second half. No changes.
Don’t forget there’s another game going on tonight. Nick Ames has all the details of Bayern-Besiktas! The German champions are a goal and a man up at the break.
Half-time reading: This is worth 15 minutes of your time, and then some. Andy Bull tells the story of the Japanese kayak star who spiked his rival’s drink with performance-enhancing drugs.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 0-0 Barcelona
And that’s that for the opening 45. Barcelona have bossed the possession stats. But they haven’t made Thibaut Courtois do much work. Meanwhile the preposterously unfortunate Willian has caromed shots off both posts. Give or take a couple of inches, Chelsea would be a couple of goals up. It’s all set up for a humdinger of a second half. Stay tuned!
45 min: Messi goes dancing down the inside-left channel. He heads towards the byline and pulls a low ball into the centre. Azpilicueta hooks clear.
44 min: Chelsea have finally found their A-game. They won’t want to hear the half-time whistle.
42 min: Chelsea earn a free kick just inside the Barca half. Fabregas floats it into the mixer. Pique heads it clear, although not with any great conviction. Hazard meets the dropping ball, just outside the box, and sends a dipping screamer inches over the crossbar!
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41 min: Now Willian hits the other post! He picks a loose ball up to the left of the Barca D. There’s not much time or space to play with. But he cocks his leg back an inch or two, and with little backlift crashes a stunning rising shot off the left-hand post! Once again, the ball rebounds to safety with ter Stegen rooted to the spot.
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38 min: Messi tries to break into the Chelsea box. He’s stopped, but it’s after-you by the entire Chelsea defence, and Paulinho picks up the loose ball. He slips the ball wide left for Alba, who earns a corner off Moses. Pique meets the corner with his head six yards out, but he’s under pressure from Rudiger and his effort flashes well wide right. Chelsea again creating trouble for themselves.
36 min: Chelsea have done very well to fight their way back into this match. They’ve done it with no little panache and style. Hazard and Willian have been busy and impressive. And finally it’s Barca’s turn to do a bit of ball chasing. It’s mainly in the middle of the park, but it represents something of a turnaround.
34 min: The ever-excellent Willian drops a shoulder to zip in from the left. He skates past Busquets, and curls with great power towards the top corner from 20 yards. The ball hits the right-hand post flush, and rebounds to safety. So unlucky, for ter Stegen was beaten all ends up. A magnificent effort!
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32 min: Messi nearly breaks free with a power dribble down the left. Hazard executes a delicious backflick in midfield, and isn’t far away from setting Chelsea off on the break. Nearly. Not quite. All very pretty.
30 min: Alonso curls the free kick weakly towards the bottom right. Ter Stegen flops on it like a blanket. Not a great effort. But after being on the ropes awhile, that was a welcome foray into Barca territory.
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29 min: And this is much, much better. First Hazard isn’t too far away from sending Pedro scuttling goalwards with a clever reverse pass down the middle. Then Willian goes haring down the centre of the pitch, forcing Rakitic into a panic. The Barca man tumbles him over from behind, 25 yards out. That’s a free kick in a very dangerous position - Willian Country - and a deserved booking.
28 min: Hazard and Moses try to get something going down the right flank. Barca aren’t having it. A little better from Chelsea: baby steps, and all that, as they try to work their way back into this match.
26 min: Chelsea are a little rattled right now, having seen so little of the ball. Courtois sends a weak kick upfield and Barca are soon coming back at Chelsea, the home fans groaning in frustration. Chelsea swarm to ensure Iniesta doesn’t get space to shoot, but they’re beginning to cause problems for themselves now.
24 min: Rare hesitation from Messi saves Chelsea. Suarez and Iniesta combine well down the left. The latter slips a ball through the Chelsea box. Messi arrives to meet it on the penalty spot, but instead of shooting first time - he’s got a window - he drops a shoulder and feints to the right. The window slams shut. Messi looks to the sky in frustration; he knows he gave one up there.
22 min: Suarez buzzes around like Suarez does. His presence causes Christensen to shank a simple sideways pass out of play for a corner. Nothing comes from the set piece, but the visitors are totally on top now. They’ve enjoyed 75% of possession so far.
20 min: Chelsea are struggling to keep hold of the ball right now. Courtois hoicks a goal kick straight out of play, and they’re chasing around for possession again.
18 min: Messi drops deep and tries to release Alba into the Chelsea box with a sliderule pass down the inside left. Just a little too much juice on it, and that’s a goal kick. Barca are beginning to dominate possession after the reasonably equal opening exchanges.
16 min: Suarez slips a pass down the left for Messi, who dinks one into the middle for Paulinho. The Barca midfielder has outfoxed Alonso, who has no clue where he is. Paulinho’s free on the spot, and can aim his header anywhere. But in trying to dispatch the ball into the left-hand portion of the net, all he can do is send it sailing harmlessly wide left. Chelsea were opened up there.
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14 min: Barcelona do their stroking-it-around-the-back thing again. It’s served them well over the years.
12 min: Hazard goes dribbling in the Messi style down the left, rides a couple of challenges and reaches the byline. His pullback can’t quite find Fabregas, and eventually the pressure’s released when Kante handles on the edge of the box. But Barca were backtracking in a panic for a bit there.
10 min: Messi dribbles with great purpose down the middle, then slips a pass right for Paulinho. A low fizzing cross towards the near post nearly confuses Christensen, but the defender sorts his feet out to trap and clear. For a micro-second, it looked as though Christensen might prod that into the bottom-right corner of his own net. But all’s OK.
9 min: Rudiger, deep on the left, flashes a stunning high crossfield pass to Moses, who tears down the right and earns a corner. All the big lads come up for it. And it’s Rudiger who wins a header, ten yards out. He’s not being challenged in particularly convincing fashion, and should really do better than the weak effort that dribbles wide left of goal.
7 min: Alba bodychecks Willian as the Chelsea man makes good down the inside-right channel. A free kick, 35 yards out. Chelsea load the box. Fabregas delivers in the dismal fashion, and first man Busquets heads it clear. A nice bright start, though, both teams showing in attack.
5 min: Hazard slips a pass down the right. Willian engages Jordi Alba in a foot race. The Barca man wins. That was some battle. Chelsea come again, though, Hazard gliding in from the right and unleashing a screamer towards the top left from the edge of the box. It’s a little high and wide, but not so far away. Ter Stegen was at full stretch, and wasn’t necessarily getting there had it been on target.
3 min: Suarez, Alba and Messi combine down the left. Suddenly Messi is sashaying into the Chelsea area. He dinks a cross into the centre, but there’s nobody in burgundy there. Alonso clears. Barca come back at Chelsea, Messi again dribbling down the left. Azpilicueta crunches the little master with a fine tackle in the area, and the home side clear once more.
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2 min: Barca take the opportunity to knock the ball around the back awhile, getting a feel of the thing.
And we’re off! Chelsea get the ball rolling for the first quarter of this two-legged set-to! A huge roar greets the kick-off. Moses plays the ball down the right in the hope of setting Willian away, but the flag goes up for offside.
The teams are out! Chelsea are in their famous blue kit; Barca are forced into third-choice burgundy. A wonderful atmosphere at the Bridge, as you’d expect when two of European football’s behemoths take each other on. It’s the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham versus Catalunya! We’ll be off in a minute, once pennants have been exchanged, hands have been shaken, and Zadok the Priest has been ritually disembowelled.
Pre-match team talk. Can Chelsea see off Barca tonight? It’s a big ask, but it’s perfectly possible, according to the good doctor, our very own Sid Lowe.
Chelsea-Barcelona: not entirely a modern rivalry. Here’s Paul Johnson to explain: “It’s not entirely a new fixture: they met in the 1966 Fairs Cup semi-final, 0-2, 2-0 and 0-5 play-off. The home leg included Charlie Cooke’s debut and two own goals from memory. The tie was also delayed by a week when Tommy Docherty arranged for Fulham Fire Brigade to flood the pitch so the match would be postponed and key players could recover from injury. Happy days.” Ah yes, the old Fairs Cup. Not a competition organised by Uefa, you see, so they don’t consider it an official part of the European records. Which is a bit of a rum do, all told, and kind of distorts the picture. I should have known better. Anyway, that’s a marvellous Tommy Docherty story. You have to love The Doc. In lieu of hot Champions League action, there another marvellous example of his trying it on, at the expense of his old pal Bill Shankly, in the second story of this old Joy of Six.
Chelsea make seven changes to the side sent out against Hull City in the FA Cup last Friday. But that was a slightly random selection, given the Championship opposition, and with this game on the horizon. Perhaps it’s more instructive to compare tonight’s teamsheet to the XI named for the last big Premier League game, against West Bromwich Albion eight evenings ago. Just the two changes, then: Davide Zappacosta and Olivier Giroud dropping to the bench, making way for Marcos Alonso and Willian.
Barcelona meanwhile are operating an if-it-ain’t-broke policy. They strolled to a 2-0 win at Eibar on Saturday, so have named exactly the same starting XI.
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The teams
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Moses, Fabregas, Kante, Alonso, Willian, Hazard, Pedro.
Subs: Caballero, Drinkwater, Morata, Giroud, Zappacosta, Cahill, Hudson-Odoi.
Barcelona: ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Jordi Alba, Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Paulinho, Messi, Luis Suarez, Iniesta.
Subs: Cillessen, Denis Suarez, Dembele, Digne, Andre Gomes, Aleix Vidal, Vermaelen.
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).
Preamble
Chelsea versus Barcelona is a thoroughly modern rivalry. These two storied clubs never once played each other during the last millennium. Since 2000, though, they’ve ran into each other regularly. And drama’s never been in short supply.
The clubs first met in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in April 2000. Tore Andre Flo was Chelsea’s two-goal hero in a 3-1 first-leg win for the Blues at Stamford Bridge. But Rivaldo, Luis Figo and Patrick Kluivert all found the net at the Nou Camp, Barca winning 5-1 after extra time to make it through to the semis, 6-4 on aggregate.
There was payback for Chelsea in 2005. Three early second-leg goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen, Frank Lampard and Damien Duff set Jose Mourinho’s side on their way to a 5-4 aggregate victory in the Round of 16. Barca won at the same stage the following year, another tight tie, 3-2 on aggregate. Then, after a couple of group games in October 2006 - Group games? No thanks! - came the real doozies.
Could a Champions League semi-final, second leg get any more dramatic than the one the teams served up in 2009, Tom Henning Øvrebø ‘s, eh, laissez-faire refereeing style, Andres Iniesta’s late, late goal, Didier Drogba’s pitchside meltdown, all that? Well, yes! Yes! Three years later, ten-man Chelsea somehow turned things around at Camp Nou in the wake of John Terry’s dismissal, Ramires chipping home gracefully just before half-time to alter the tone, Fernando Torres sealing the deal late on after Lionel Messi had missed a second-half penalty. Phew! Eh? More, please!
The eagle eyed will have noticed that, on the last three occasions these clubs have met in the knockout stage, the winners have gone on to lift the trophy: Barcelona in 2006 and 2009, Chelsea in 2012. Plenty for the superstitious to get excited about here, then. So let’s go! Because it is ON!
Kick off: 7.45pm in London.
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