
Uefa Champions League, Semi-final second leg
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Date: Wednesday, 6 May
Kick-off: 1945
So, Manchester United went through to the Champions League final last night with a 4-1 aggregate win over Arsenal. But will it be a repeat of last year’s final as predicted by Sir Alex Ferguson, or will Platini end up smiling tonight if the result isn’t an all English final again?
My stomach’s doing somersaults just writing this, so I dread to think what it’ll be doing by the time we kick off to be honest. Barcelona completely took Real Madrid apart 6-2 in their last game whilst we managed a pretty sloppy 3-1 against Fulham. Ok, so La Liga isn’t a patch on the Premier League and it’s not your usual Real Madrid these days but even so, it has to be a bit worrying.
Anyway, the nerves are making me ramble now so I’ll shut up and get on with the facts.
On squad news for us, Joe Cole and Paulo Ferreira remain long-term absentees and it doesn’t look as if Ricardo Carvalho or Deco will make it back for this game either. Alex though, should be back after his groin strain at the weekend. Ballack should also return after being rested at the weekend as does Ashley Cole having served his suspension in the first leg.
As for Barcelona, Thierry Henry seems to be a doubt with a knee problem, whilst both Puyol (suspended) and Marquez (injured) miss out at the back.
KEY PLAYERS
CHELSEA
Frank Lampard – the Chelsea midfielder had a surprisingly quiet first-leg against Barcelona but I expect him to be well up for the return and hopefully back to his best.
BARCELONA
Lionel Messi – again, the Champions League top scorer with 8 goals from 10 games, didn’t have a good first-leg so I can see he wanting to impress himself much more on this one. Could be a right handful tonight.
CLUB FORM
CHELSEA
We’ve reached the Champions League semi-finals for the third season running and the fifth in six seasons. We haven’t lost any of our last 17 at home in this competition although unfortunately, our last defeat was against tonight’s opposition back in February 2006 (1-2).
BARCELONA
Barca have reached the Champions League semi finals for a record equalling sixth time and for the second year running. Last season having drawn 0-0 at home against Manchester United, they lost 1-0 in the second leg at this stage. Barcelona haven’t lost in their last 5 Champions League games and defeat tonight would be their 100th in all European competitions.
HEAD TO HEAD
This is our 10th meeting in the Champions League. In a total of 12 games between us, Barca have won five to our four. Barca have failed to beat us in our last four games, making this their joint longest current winless run against a side in the competition – the other club being United.
PREDICTION
Daren’t even think about it.
TEAMS
CHELSEA (from): Cech, Hilario, Belletti, Bosingwa, A Cole, Terry, Alex, Ivanovic, Lampard, Obi, Ballack, Essien, Kalou, Malouda, Drogba, Anelka, Stoch, Di Santo, Mancienne.
BARCELONA (from): Victor Valdes, Pinto, Jorquera, Victor Sanchez, Caceres, Pique, Daniel Alves, Abidal, Sylvinho, Busquets, Iniesta, Hleb, Keita, Toure, Xavi, Eto’o, Messi, Henry, Gudjohnsen, Krkic, Pedro.