We bring you all the vital facts and figures ahead of a big UEFA Champions League under the lights at Stamford Bridge…
This is Chelsea’s matchday five fixture in the season’s UEFA Champions League. The 2-2 draw against Qarabag on matchday four left us 12th in the 36-team league table at the midway stage with seven points, having won two matches, drawn one and lost one.
Last season, 16 points were enough for a top-eight spot and an automatic place in the last 16. Eleven points were needed for a play-off position.
Also with seven points from four games, Barcelona are 11th in the league phase table, above Chelsea on goal difference.
Chelsea vs Barcelona: Head-to-head
Barcelona are our most frequent opponents in European competition. We have played them 17 times, six more than any other side. We faced the Catalans in our first Champions League season, 1999/00.
Of our eight previous meetings with Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have won five and two have been drawn. The single defeat came in a Champions League Round of 16 first leg match in February 2006 (2-1). Barca have not kept a clean sheet in any of their previous visits to SW6.
In total, 19 per cent of our goals (four) against Barcelona have been own goals. Both of Chelsea’s first two goals against Barcelona were own goals, by Francisco Gallego and Miguel Reina, in our 2-0 Fairs Cup second leg semi-final victory in 1966.
Head-to-head all competitions
Played 17
Won 5
Drawn 6
Lost 6
Chelsea’s biggest Champions League home wins
Chelsea 6-0 Maribor | 2014/15 | Group stage
Chelsea 6-0 Qarabag | 2017/18 | Group stage
Chelsea stats
Chelsea are competing in our 20th Champions League campaign. We have made the knockout stage in each of our past eight appearances.
Chelsea have lost two of our past 61 European group stage and league phase matches at Stamford Bridge and are unbeaten in 16 (12 wins, four draws), since a 1-0 Champions League defeat against Valencia in September 2019.
Chelsea have scored in each of our last 19 European games, since a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in April 2023.
The Blues have lost two of our 16 Champions League group stage or league phase matches against Spanish teams (seven wins, seven draws).
UEFA reports that in our last Champions League match against Qarabag, the ball was in play for just 46 minutes and five seconds, our lowest in the competition this season.
Against Qarabag, Chelsea fielded the second-youngest starting XI by average age (23 years, 97 days) for an English club in an away Champions League match, surpassed only by Arsenal’s line-up against Olympiacos in December 2009, which averaged 21 years and 215 days.
Chelsea were involved in the first European match transmitted live back to England on closed circuit TV. It was the Fairs Cup semi-final play-off away at Barcelona on 25 May 1966. A crowd of 9,008 watched the match at Stamford Bridge, relayed on six 30x40ft screens.
Terry Venables, who played 228 games in the 60s for the Blues, managed Barca between 1984 and 1987. He picked up La Liga and Copa de la Liga trophies and was a runner-up to Steaua Bucharest in the 1985/86 European Cup.
Tuesday’s game is our 100th home Champions League game, although one – our quarter-final second leg against Porto on 13 April 2021 – was played in Seville instead of at Stamford Bridge due to Covid-19 restrictions. It remains the only home game in our history not to be played at the Bridge.
Champions League scorers: Estevao 2 (1 pen), Caicedo 1, Fernandez 1 (pen), Garnacho 1, George 1, Guiu 1, Palmer 1, own goal 1
Milestones
Estevao Willian’s opener against Qarabag was our 350th goal in the Champions League, including qualifiers.
The Brazilian also became the only South American player to score in consecutive Champions League appearances while aged 18 or under.
If selected, Malo Gusto will make his 100th appearance for Chelsea in all competitions.
Barcelona stats
Last season
La Liga – Winners
Copa del Rey – Winners
Supercopa de Espana – Winners
Champions League – Lost 7-6 on aggregate to Inter Milan in the semi-finals
Top scorer all competitions – Robert Lewandowski 42
Barcelona lost the European Cup finals of 1961 and 1986, but triumphed in the final edition of the tournament before it was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992, by beating Sampdoria at Wembley.
Barcelona have lost only three of their past 20 matches against English teams (13 wins, four draws).
Champions League league phase results
Newcastle United (a) W 2-1
Paris Saint-Germain (h) L 2-1
Olympiacos (h) W 6-1
Club Brugge (a) D 3-3
Champions League scorers: Rashford 4, Lopez 3, Torres 2, Yamal 2 (1 pen), own goal 1
Barcelona have been victorious in eight of their past 11 league phase matches, with two draws and one defeat. Notably, they managed to come back from behind three times to secure a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge on Matchday Four.
Barcelona have scored in each of their last 24 matches in the competition, with their most recent failure to find the net coming against Shakhtar Donetsk two years ago.
Barcelona have won 12 of their 17 matches in all competitions this term (two draws, three defeats). Their three defeats have come at home to PSG and away at Sevilla and Real Madrid.
The Blaugrana are unbeaten in five away league phase games (four wins, one draw), scoring at least three goals in four of those.
There have been 96 goals in Barcelona’s past 20 Champions League games, at an average of 4.8 per match.
Since beating Real Mallorca 3-0 on the opening weekend, Barca have failed to keep a clean sheet in eight games on the road in all competitions.
On Saturday, Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao 4-0, bringing them within one point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid. With 36 goals in 13 games, they are the league’s top scorers.
Last five results
Real Madrid (a) L 2-1
Elche (h) W 3-1
Club Brugge (CL, a) D 3-3
Celta Vigo (a) W 4-2
Athletic Bilbao (h) W 4-0
Current Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick managed Bayern Munich when they met us in the Covid-19-disrupted 2019/20 round of 16, winning the first leg 3-0 at Stamford Bridge in February and then 4-1 in the second leg at the Allianz Arena in August.
Hansi Flick’s record against Chelsea
Won: 2
Drawn: 0
Lost: 2
Matchweek four line-up
Wednesday 5 November
Club Brugge 3-3 Barcelona
Team (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Kounde, Araujo (c), Garcia (Cubarsi 90+4), Balde (Martin 90+3); Casado (Olmo 58), De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Rashford (Bardghji 83); Torres (Lewandowski 58)
Scorers: Torres 8, Yamal 61, own goal 77
Discipline
There are no suspensions.
As from the first match in the league phase, players and team officials are suspended for the next competition match after three cautions, that did not result in a red card, as well as after any subsequent odd-numbered caution (fifth, seventh, ninth, etc).
Champions League yellow cards: 8
Santos 2, Buonanotte 1, Caicedo 1, Estevao 1, Fernandez 1, James 1, Tosin 1
Champions League red cards: 1
Joao Pedro 1
Match officials
Referee: Slavko Vincic
Assistant referees: Tomaz Klancnik and Andraz Kovacic
Fourth official: David Smajc
VAR: Christian Dingert
