Barcelona to face Chelsea in the champions league at Stamford bridge on Thursday 20th November

Chelsea and Barcelona have normally faced each other in the knockout stages of the Champions League. Chelsea have only beaten Barcelona once and drew once. Chelsea's one nil win was during the first leg of the 23/24 semi-finals but Barcelona ended up beating Chelsea 2-1 on aggregate. Both teams drew during the second leg of the 22/23 semi-finals but Barcelona was the team that went to the final after a 2-1 aggregate. 

📸via vavel.com

Last time Barcelona and Chelsea played was in last seasons Champions League semi-finals. This game was played at Stamford Bridge, Barcelona won this game 4-1, 3 of Barcelona's goals were scored in the first half and the 4th was a last minute goal scored by Paralluelo and just a minute after this Chelsea scored there goal, which was scored by Kaptein. After this match Barcelona went on and lost to Arsenal in the finals. 

For this game Chelsea won’t have their main keeper Hannah Hampton after she got injured during a 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the WSL. They will also be without Reiten in the midfield and Kerr upfront as they are managing her comeback. However Sonia did say when speaking about James “she’s available to start the game against Barcelona, probably but fit to play 90 minutes, but yeah, she’s in a good place to start" this will be positive news for the Chelsea fans as they have another key player on the pitch being able to help create chances against the 3 time champions. 

Barcelona women are missing more of their players than Chelsea due to injuries. Marta Torrejón, Patri Guijarro, Salma Paralluelo and Esmee Brugts are the 5 players Barcelona are missing for this fixture. 

Aggie Beever-jones stated in the press conference, “We know it’s not going to be an easy game by any means, but we have to prepare and look at their weaknesses, but equally focus on ourselves and our strengths."

Chelsea would have also reflected on their 1-1 draw against Liverpool (who are currently last in the WSL and this game earned them just their second point of the season) at the weekend but also the weekend before they drew 1-1 with Arsenal, Chelsea are probably hoping to end this drawing streak and get a win. 

Barcelona's last game was played against Real Madrid at the weekend where they won the derby 4-0. 

Both team will be looking to win this fixture as so far in the champions league Barcelona have lost one of their games (against) and Chelsea have drew two of their games. This would be a crucial win for Chelsea as Real Madrid could take there spot at 4th in the table if they beat Arsenal on Wednesday 19 November. Barcelona currently sit first in the table on 9 points like Lyon and United so they will also be hoping for the 3 points to remain there spot.