3) Chelsea
One of the most glamorous ties in the Champions League, it’s always a treat when these two meet.
Despite an incredible 15 meetings over the years, nothing separates the two sides in terms of results. Barcelona have beaten Chelsea 5 times, drawn 5 more and been defeated 5.
With two big 5-star performances (including a remarkable comeback in the 1999/2000 Champions League), Barcelona will feel they have a slight edge over their rivals. With the highly controversial 1-1 draw in 2009 to add venom to the match, it never disappoints.
John Terry’s red card on the way to Chelsea’s incredible 2012 Champions League triumph is just one of a number of red cards to have littered these fixtures. Eric Abidal, Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba are just some of the other high-profile names to have been sent off in these titanic clashes.
Chelsea have often faced Barcelona with numerous suspensions and injuries, but they always tend to put in gritty counter-attacking performances that carve out the weaknesses in Barcelona’s high-possession style. Late equalisers and brilliant strikes by the likes of Frank Lampard and Gianfranco Zola have dotted this traditionally engrossing draw.
One of the fixture’s strangest quirks is that Lionel Messi has failed to net against the Blues in 8 games – although he did assist Iniesta for the last-minute strike that sent them to the 2009 final.
