Sports Blog 14/03/2018: UEFA Champions League Last 16 2nd Leg – Barcelona vs Chelsea, Wednesday 14th March 2018

Can Chelsea escape the Nou Camp and knock Barcelona out of the Champions League, at 7.45pm on BT Sport 2?

The Blues can feel a tad unlikely to have come away from the 1st leg with just a draw. They did a good job of stifling Lionel Messi and co., taking the lead just after the hour mark thanks to Willian. Yet, as so many teams have learnt over the years, you can only keep the Argentine wizard down for so long, with Messi – who sits at a Super Mega PGM of 62-72, ahead of Luis Suarez at 50-58 – nabbing a potentially crucial away goal for Barca 15 minutes later.



That leaves Chelsea facing the indomitable task of trying to get something at the Nou Camp, a ground in which Barcelona have won 18 of their 20 games in all competitions since the season proper began, drawing the other 2. The Catalan colossus has been Man City-matching levels of dominant in 2017/18, with an unbeaten run in La Liga yielding an 8 point lead at the top, not to mention a place in the Copa del Rey final against Man United-foes Sevilla in April.

In contrast Chelsea have had quite a severe domestic wobble in the past few weeks. They’ve lost 4 of their last 6 league games, their only wins coming against relegation fodder West Brom and Crystal Palace. Antonio Conte also has an FA Cup quarter-final at Leicester to worry about; not exactly an unwinnable game, but one that will carry a lot of pressure given it represents one of the club’s 2 remaining chances to pick up a bit of silverware this season (it might even be their sole shot by the time the fixture rolls around).

Linked to this slump is how off the boil Chelsea have been going forwards. Injury issues have prevented Alvaro Morata from building up a head of steam, while January signing Olivier Giroud has a solitary FA Cup goal to his name. The pair both go into the 2nd leg at a Super Mega PGM of 16-20, with top scorer Eden Hazard at 14-18 and 1st leg hero Willian at 9-13.

The last 16 has thrown up a few surprises – admittedly none of them too favourable for English sides – so the Blues can’t be written off. It’s going to be damn tough, however, with Spreadex offering a Barcelona/Chelsea Goal Supremacy spread of 1.05-1.25 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.7-2.9.