Chelsea v Barcelona Betting Preview – UEFA Champions League 20th February 7.45pm
Lionel Messi and co arrive at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night for the opening salvo in the Champions League Chelsea v Barcelona duel. This should be some fixture and it will be interesting to see how Chelsea just manage to keep the visitors quiet in the game. The Blues are actually up in the head to head record against Barcelona, but the Premier League side go as the heavy underdogs to get through this tie. Will they still be in at the end of the first leg?
Chelsea News and Form
Can Chelsea at least come out of this with some pride intact in having at least having challenged Barcelona? This is such as bad draw for them, but they have nothing to lose. At the round of sixteen in the Champions League Chelsea are W8 L4 and from their previous round of 16 ties, this is only the third time that they have been at home in the first leg and from those previous two occasions, Chelsea are W1 D1. The Blues hold a W4 L6 record in two-legged European ties against Spanish sides, most recently losing against Atletico Madrid in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
Chelsea did collect four points off of Atletico in this season’s group stage though, their away win being their only victory over Spanish opponents in their last six games home and away (D3 L2). Chelsea only managed the three points at home in the group stage, beating Karabakh before being held to ties against Atletico and Roma. In the bet365 correct score market at Barcelona 1-0 is at 15/2* (betting odds taken at 4:46 pm on February 18th, 2018). Chelsea actually have a hugely positive home record of W9 D5 L2 against Spanish visitors and they have lost only one of their last eleven home games in Europe (W6 D4). In all competitions in West London, Chelsea are W3 D3 L1 in their last seven.
Barcelona News and Form
Barcelona are unbeaten in their domestic league campaign and won 2-0 at Eibar on the weekend. They have such a good record in the Champions League, having won 11 of their last thirteen round of 16 ties but interestingly the two defeats that they suffered in that sequence was against English sides (Chelsea and Liverpool). Last season in the round of sixteen they found themselves 4-0 down after the first leg against PSG then back at the Nou Camp launched the comeback of all comebacks to win 6-1. Barcelona’s record in away games against English opposition is W9 D8 L15 so it’s not great and they lost their last trip to England as well, suffering a 3-1 loss at Man City in the group stage of last season’s competition. Both teams to score at Bet365 is at 4/6 odds* (betting odds taken at 4:46 pm on February 18th, 2018). Away from home in the group stage this season, Barcelona collected five points but they have lost three of their last seven Champions League away games, going W5 D4 L5 in their last fourteen road games. They have won 13 of their 23 two-legged ties against English sides, but just one of their last seven. Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez have both been in tremendous form and are the joint-favourites at 10/3* (betting odds taken at 4:46 pm on February 18th, 2018) in the Bet365 First Goalscorer market.
Chelsea v Barcelona Head to Head
There have been plenty of meetings between these two. Since 2000 they have met twelve times in the UEFA Champions League and they have generally ended up being pretty dramatic encounters. The last time they were paired up was in the semi finals of the 2011/12 season and it was a pretty dramatic encounter when the Blues famously took a win in the tie 2-1 on aggregate after winning the home leg 1-0. For the second leg at the Nou Camp, the Blues saw John Terry get a red card and Lionel Messi missed a penalty before Fernando Torres broke for the Blues to seal the tie. Of the five previous two-legged contests though Barcelona have won three of them.
Chelsea v Barcelona Betting Odds*
Barcelona even money, Draw 12/5, Chelsea 11/4* (Betting Odds taken on February 16th, 2018 at 5:41 p.m.)
Chelsea v Barcelona Predictions
Chelsea have their hands full there and that’s an understatement. It’s hard to see Barcelona suffering a defeat at the Bridge as Chelsea have looked too fragile lately. With the Blues having struggled for form recently and Barcelona just motoring along, look for the visitors to turn up and take a win to nil.
