What Chelsea have in Stock for Barcelona Ahead of Champions League Clash
Chelsea’s Antonio Conte has told his team to take positive from the latest draw which pit them against Barcelona in the next round of the Champions League. It has been a while since each team met (2012) but how has been the past meetings between these two clubs.
Chelsea have had the better over their Spanish rival in terms of past meeting. Both teams have met on five separate occasions in the Champions league, playing ten times (Home and Away). While Chelsea have won three times, Barcelona only beat them once and have had six draws. Chelsea have dumped them out in the competition three times while Barcelona had their share in the other two.
Chelsea (5) | Barcelona (5) | |||||
Results | Total | % | Results | Total | % | |
Chelsea | 3 | 0.15 | Barcelona | 1 | 0.05 | |
Barcelona | 1 | 0.05 | Chelsea | 0 | 0 | |
Draws | 1 | 0.05 | Draws | 4 | 0.2 | |
Goals | Total | Av.pg | Goals | Total | Av.pg | |
Chelsea | 8 | 1.6 | Barcelona | 7 | 1.4 | |
Barcelona | 5 | 1 | Chelsea | 6 | 1.2 |
Chelsea have met Barcelona at the right time when MSN is no longer in full operation. Since Neymar’s move to PSG, Barcelona have not had a free flow goal scoring season. Evidently scoring few goals (9) through their journey to seal the top spot in their group. With Iniesta’s struggle for fitness and Dembele’s long-term lay-off this season, Messi has shouldered more responsibilities.
Dembele who has returned to full training is due to be back before the fixture in February and will definitely feature, all things being equal. Barcelona have not been the same and Chelsea can tap into their inability to score goals this season to frustrate and dump them out of the competition.
Chelsea have got a lot of match-winners, from Hazard to Willian to Alonso, anybody can just be the match winner for Chelsea. Both managers’ tactical geniuses will play a vital role in seeing who scale through. Chelsea, like they always do in matches like this, will park the bus to frustrate Barcelona. They have the right players to play from the counter.
Can Chelsea dump Barcelona out of the Champions League?