Barcelona VS Chelsea Match Prediction
2018-03-14
19:45:00
Barcelona
VS
Chelsea
Our Prediction Tip
Barcelona will win this match.
2018-03-1419:45:00 Barcelona will win this match.
Six of the last eight matches played between Barcelona and Chelsea have finished as draws, including the 1-1 in the first leg at Stamford Bridge. That was the first meeting between the two teams since Chelsea beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final in 2012, where they won the first leg 1-0 and drew the second 2-2.
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The tie might be evenly poised, but Barcelona are favourites to progress and with good reason - the Catalan giants have a phenomenal home record in the Champions League, and are unbeaten at home in all competitions since August too.
Furthermore, for all they impressed in the first leg, Chelsea have been poor against bigger opposition since - earning criticism for their poor display against Manchester City, a week after they also lost to Manchester United.
Should Barcelona also have Andres Iniesta back involved, it would be a further big boost for the hosts too, before this game at the Nou Camp.
Chelsea, by contrast, have David Luiz and Ross Barkley injured and Alvaro Morata in poor form - hence their recent "false nine" tactics.
It paid off - just - in the win against Crystal Palace, but against Manchester City they barely had a sniff - treatment Barcelona will be hoping to replicate on Wednesday night.
Barcelona also have Lionel Messi, who broke his poor goalscoring record against Chelsea with the equaliser in the first leg and will be raring to go to add more.
Chelsea's first-leg draw has given them an outside chance of progression to the quarter-finals, but this match at the Nou Camp is a different matter entirely - Barcelona are favourites for a reason.
Barcelona are a best price of 4/9 for Wednesday night's game with Bet365 and William Hill - with a favourites tag they are likely to live up to.
There have been high-scoring second legs between these two teams on plenty of occasions before now, and you can get 7/10 from Betfair on over 2.5 goals. Barcelona to win and over 2.5 goals is 21/20 with Ladbrokes.
On the other hand, they have not conceded a goal at home in any of their three most recent home games and a Barcelona win to nil will fetch you 29/20 with Ladbrokes.
Lionel Messi scored the equaliser in the first leg, and he is just 8/15 with Bet365 and Betfair to score at anytime. Luis Suarez is 8/11 with Betfair.
Barcelona have put themselves in a great position to qualify for the quarter-finals, and must now do a professional job at the Nou Camp to ensure they seal progress. Lionel Messi was in the goals in the first leg, and the Argentine maestro will be one to watch again in the second leg.
Andres Iniesta is set to return from a hamstring injury, but Philippe Coutinho will drop out from the side which won at Malaga as he is ineligible for the Champions League. Nelso Semedo, Sergi Samper and Denis Suarez are all out injured.
Lionel Messi scored Barcelona's equaliser at Chelsea in the first leg, and after ending his bad run against the Blues he now has 32 goals in 41 games this season. Luis Suarez's goal in the win at Malaga took him to 24 goals in 39 games.
Barcelona have kept three consecutive clean sheets since a 1-1 draw with Las Palmas. Ernesto Valverde's side beat Atletico Madrid 1-0, won the Supercopa de Catalunya on penalties after a goalless draw with Espanyol and, last weekend, won 2-0 at Malaga thanks to Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho’s goals.
Ross Barkley and David Luiz remain sidelined for Chelsea, but Antonio Rudiger is expected to return after missing the win against Crystal Palace. Antonio Conte opted for a 'false nine' system in the first leg, but after it failed against Manchester City in the league it remains to be seen if he sticks with the same formation.
Eden Hazard leads Chelsea's goalscoring charts this season with 15 from 39 games, alongside 11 assists. In-form Willian is catching him fast, however - the Brazilian now has 13 goals and ten assists for the season.
Chelsea's 2-1 win at home to Crystal Palace at the weekend was their first since they played Barcelona in the first leg. They twice travelled to Greater Manchester and twice returned empty handed, losing 2-1 to United and 1-0 to City in the two weeks in between.
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