Great opening line by Pat Nevin in his column on the official site.

"I am going to nip out on a limb here and say that tonight 's game against Barcelona might just be a little more difficult than Friday nights match against Hull City."

Game Day.

Come on Chelsea.

Thinking back, as a kid I used to listen to Sport on 2 when the likes of Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were doing well in the European Cup and hoping one day it would be us. For this reason I never take the likes of tonight's game for granted.

Yeah I know I am an Old Chelsea Git.

2 hours ago, BuBbA said:

Well, i absolutely don't. I can't see us winning today and I'm even afraid it will end up a spanking. Wouldn't be surprised if we lose 0-3 or 0-4.

I would be extremely surprised! 

1 hour ago, PloKoon13 said:

It's the same ref as in the above game.

 

I have the strangest feeling that I'm going to struggle to concentrate at work today...

Message to the players " Don't f**king knee anyone in the legs " 

Who knows, Messi might get walked for a swinging elbow in the first 10 minutes. 

Edited February 20, 20188 yr by Famous CFC

Had a dream last night that I was in a pub in Barcelona watching the game, and that it ended 1-1.

Well, we'll see. 

Match day !!!!! Come on blues !!!!!

We want dream tonight !!!!

I would be surprised if we got thrashed. We might lose over the two legs but thrashed? No way.

I have a good feeling about the game today, think we will win by the 1 goal. 

Edited February 20, 20188 yr by Remodez

2 hours ago, Famous CFC said:

I would be extremely surprised! 

That’s the spirit. 

I'm optimistic, I'm even a little bit confident.
I know we all hate it by now, but I'd personally start the match 352, if we need to we can switch to 343 but for now, I think we need to diffuse their attack.
Thibaut
Azpi Christensen Rudiger
Zappacosta Kante Fabregas Drinkwater Alonso
Morata Hazard

And we can switch
Thibaut
Azpi Christensen Rudiger
Zappacosta Kante Fabregas Alonso
Willian Morata Hazard

Don't want to see Cahill and Alonso down that left side together. Messi/Dembele would tear them a new one.

I'd like to see:

Courtois

Azpi  Christensen  Rudiger

Moses  Barkley  Kante  Drinkwater  Palmeiri

Eden  Morata

Few points to note:

I expect one of Cahill/Alonso to start. Conte will probably start both.

I've stuck Barkley in as he offers a physical presence as well as being able to get up the pitch but in all honesty don't expect him to start so soon back from injury with little time to prepare. 

I would like to see Giroud start as he's looked far better than Morata but i'm hoping Morata has that fire in his belly being a Madrid boy.

Surprised so many want to see Zappa start or is Moses injured? Imo Moses is the much better player of the two. 

13 hours ago, TheBluesBrother said:

This should get everyone in the mood. Great footage in it. Lest we forget............

Barcelona's 2009 Champions League Title - Disgrace of the Sport

 

 

 

Watching that again just reminds me of the sense of injustice but also what a great chelsea team that was. 

 I recall that game so well. However we went on to win the champions league with a far weaker team and were incredibly lucky to do so. So it sort of evens itself out.

Chelsea and Barcelona had some fantastic games over the years. I don't think either team is a shadow of their best team but Barcelona is a lot closer to it than us.

We just don't have the goal scoring threat anything like Anelka and Drogba and we certainly don't have Lampard, Essien and Ballack in the midfield. Cant even remember if Ballack played in that game or if Essien was at right back.

 

Thanks for posting the video though it brought same good memories despite the loss. Not looking forward to this game, don't feel we have enough character in the team right now. We lack a general as much as the talent itself.

15 hours ago, Richard P said:

These players aren’t stupid and can play different roles within a game. Willian has played wing back and defensively well at Anfield before. We can play 3 4 3 with the ball and Willian can drop back into shape to become 3 5 2, if play is switched to the left side I’m sure Eden can drop in so our shape isn’t compromised!

 

2 minutes ago, ozboy said:

Watching that again just reminds me of the sense of injustice but also what a great chelsea team that was. 

 I recall that game so well. However we went on to win the champions league with a far weaker team and were incredibly lucky to do so. So it sort of evens itself out.

Chelsea and Barcelona had some fantastic games over the years. I don't think either team is a shadow of their best team but Barcelona is a lot closer to it than us.

We just don't have the goal scoring threat anything like Anelka and Drogba and we certainly don't have Lampard, Essien and Ballack in the midfield. Cant even remember if Ballack played in that game or if Essien was at right back.

 

Thanks for posting the video though it brought same good memories despite the loss. Not looking forward to this game, don't feel we have enough character in the team right now. We lack a general as much as the talent itself.

Essien played RB against united in the Cl final. Bosingwa was the RB in this game

https://streamja.com/dop

 

Could watch this every day.  JT, Didier, Frank, Petr etc recapping our two legs against Barca in 2012.  Goosebumps. 

Not feeling confident at all with this game. I can see us losing. First leg is crucial. We cannot conced more than 2 otherwise it’s game over. 

14 minutes ago, linesy91 said:

https://streamja.com/dop

 

Could watch this every day.  JT, Didier, Frank, Petr etc recapping our two legs against Barca in 2012.  Goosebumps. 

I didn't think it was possible to feel so happy and sad at the same time. What a great memory! 

Match day and looking forward to a great game.....COME ON YOU BLUES !

 

49 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Don't want to see Cahill and Alonso down that left side together. Messi/Dembele would tear them a new one.

I'd like to see:

Courtois

Azpi  Christensen  Rudiger

Moses  Barkley  Kante  Drinkwater  Palmeiri

Eden  Morata

Few points to note:

I expect one of Cahill/Alonso to start. Conte will probably start both.

I've stuck Barkley in as he offers a physical presence as well as being able to get up the pitch but in all honesty don't expect him to start so soon back from injury with little time to prepare. 

I would like to see Giroud start as he's looked far better than Morata but i'm hoping Morata has that fire in his belly being a Madrid boy.

Surprised so many want to see Zappa start or is Moses injured? Imo Moses is the much better player of the two. 

Zappa offers a lot more speed, plus I kinda feel like Moses doesn't cross as much anymore, or at least not as often.

1 minute ago, coco said:

 

The irony that it is a strong possibility that not a single Englishman will be included in the Starting 11.

7 minutes ago, TomCFC85 said:

The irony that it is a strong possibility that not a single Englishman will be included in the Starting 11.

Neither was Agincourt mate.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-34618197

4 hours ago, Blueblur said:

Had a dream last night that I was in a pub in Barcelona watching the game, and that it ended 1-1.

Well, we'll see. 

I had a dream, well, more like a nightmare, that we lost 5-3 

1 hour ago, TomCFC85 said:

I'm optimistic, I'm even a little bit confident.
I know we all hate it by now, but I'd personally start the match 352, if we need to we can switch to 343 but for now, I think we need to diffuse their attack.
Thibaut
Azpi Christensen Rudiger
Zappacosta Kante Fabregas Drinkwater Alonso
Morata Hazard

And we can switch
Thibaut
Azpi Christensen Rudiger
Zappacosta Kante Fabregas Alonso
Willian Morata Hazard

The team is tonight.

Thibaut
Azpi Christensen Rudiger

Moses Fab Kante Alonso

Willian Hazard Pedro

No Number 9 both on bench

I’m biting my nails for this one guys. I’m going to completely miss the first half because I’ll be in class, and a quiz . I’ll be tuning right in for the second half as soon as class is over

You'd think that anybody not suffering from complete memory loss would know better than to write off our chances in a big match like this, but still we have people doing just that. One of the best things about football is that anybody can beat anybody on their day.

I've skimmed through that Barcelona forum that was posted in here earlier and it's quite interesting. Most of them seem to be very apprehensive. Many of them are worried about Hazard. They also worry that Conte will set us up to be too hard to break down. They are worried that their fatigued/ageing team will not be able to press long periods They are worried about their reliance on Messi and the possibility of him being pocketed by Kante. One guy was even praising Drinkwater...

It's good to get some outside perspective sometimes.