Barcelona visit the Stamford Bridge as Chelsea Eye Revenge

The London club has had an adventures journey to the semi finals. Losing 3-1 to Napoli in the first leg of the last 16, many ruled them out completely. With the revitalization of the 50 million pound man Fernando Torres ,and the reinstatement of frank Lampard in the starting 11, Chelsea have found their winning formula again. Even David Louiz has managed to break free from the kid who was controlling him with an Xbox joy stick, and managed to put in some world class performances.

All eyes will be on  Lionel Messi who’s currently scored 14 goals in the competitions’ equaling Gerd Muller’s long standing record.Barcelona have won all away games in the European competition  this season . The argentine has never been able to score against the blues in the 6 times his played them in the European competition. Barcelona are unbeaten in their last 10 games in the domestic league, scoring 26 goals. They currently sit second in the primera divisions standing table, trailing Real Madrid by 4 points.

Iniesta's 93 rd minute strike took barca to the finals back in 2009

Chelsea have not lost a home game in the European competition this season, and will look to stretch their record on Wednesday when they meet the Catalan juggernaut. The two clubs have met in the same stage of the competition before in 2009 with Barcelona managing a controversial victory. Didier Drogba famously named it a freaking disgrace; consequently he was banned for three games. Then match official Mark Over Boo is still living under a rock after a abysmal performance, it was reported that he still receives hate mail from Chelsea fans all over the world.  

Cech
Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Cole
Mikel, Lampard
Ramires, Mata, Kalou
Torres

 Chelsea will likely sit deep trying to absorb Barcelona’s attacks, and try and hit them on the counter, one thing Chelsea will try to do is control possession of the ball which is very difficult against a team like Barcelona.

Barcelona

Barcelona have a healthy and fit sqaud to call up on. Dani Alves , Gerard Pique ,Sydou Keita and Ibrahim Afellay  are all back in the squad . It’s unclear whether the enigmatic manager Guardiola will go for a 4-3-3, or 3-4-3.

Valdes,
Puyol, Mascherano, Pique
Alves, Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta
Sanchez, Messi, Pedro

Barca will try to pass their way into the box, with Chelsea s leaky defence; I expect to see at least one penalty awarded to the Catalan team. Look out for the classic inesta – messi one twos round the 18yard box.

Final Verdict

Chelsea                                     Barcelona

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