Chelsea, Barcelona and UEFA Champions League
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Gerard Martin 4: With Barcelona a man down, it was nearly impossible for Martin to have the desired impact. He was anonymous as Chelsea pushed on in search of more goals. Dani Olmo 4: A difficult performance at the weekend was compounded here. Had the second-fewest touches of any player on the pitch.
Sports Mole previews Saturday's La Liga clash between Barcelona and Alaves, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Liam Delap’s maiden strike in the competition capped off a wonderful night for Maresca and his men, with Chelsea, who moved up to fourth in the league phase table, suddenly in a strong position to claim a top eight finish and qualify automatically for the round of 16.
Chelsea moved up to second in the Premier League over the weekend and now face a mouthwatering clash with Barcelona at Stamford Bridge.
Barcelona takes on Athletic Club at Camp Nou on Saturday, Nov. 22. Kickoff is set for 4:15 p.m. CET local time, making it a 10:15 a.m. ET or 7:15 a.m. PT start in the US, a 3:15 p.m. GMT start in the UK and a 2:15 a.m. AEDT kickoff in Australia on Sunday morning.
Chelsea predicted lineup vs. Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Sánchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Badiashile, Cucurella; James, Caicedo; Estêvão, Fernández, Neto; Pedro. Maresca has insisted that football is “losing” while Pedri is sidelined, and the Barcelona midfielder won’t be in action on Tuesday night due to the injury he picked up in El Clásico last month.
For announcing himself on the UEFA Champions League stage with a goal that sparked comparisons to the GOATs, Estevao takes our UCL Moment of the Week.
Meanwhile, Barcelona continue to look all at sea with wave after wave of Chelsea attack at that end of Stamford Bridge. To make matters worse, their captain Ronald Araujo has just been shown a yellow card for dissent.