Preview: Chelsea vs Barcelona

CAIRO – 20 February 2018: Chelsea will host Barcelona on Tuesday night at the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg at 9:45 (Cairo Time).

This game is considered one of the classic games at the competition as the two teams played against each other five times at the knockout stages. Barcelona eliminated Chelsea three times in 2000, 2006 and 2009 while Chelsea were the winners twice in 2005 and 2012.

Barcelona travelled to London on Monday with their whole squad except Philippe Coutinho who is not allowed to participate with the club in this competition as he played at the group stage with Liverpool before joining Barcelona.

Chelsea depend on their winger, Eden Hazard, to break the Catalan defense while Barcelona will depend on Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez to score goals that will grant them advantage in the second leg.

Messi featured in eight games against Chelsea where he failed to score any goal against the English team.

Chelsea’s expected line-up for the game consists of: Thibaut Courtois, Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Victor Moses, Marcos Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Ngolo Kante, Eden Hazard, Pedro Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata.

Barcelona’s expected line-up for the game consists of: Marc Andre Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Gerard Pique, Samuel Umtiti, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Paulinho Junior, Ivan Rakitic, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.