5 reasons why Barcelona will destroy Chelsea in the Champions League
Chelsea host Barcelona in one of the most important matches of Antonio Conte’s managerial career. Champions League elimination and a couple of poor results in Premier League will most likely end Conte’s time at Chelsea. They are fourth in the Premier League and fighting for a top 4 finish.
On the other hand, the Catalan giants are unbeaten this campaign. Undeterred by the departure of Neymar, Ernesto Valverde’s side is playing some sublime football this season, helped by the arrival of Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele. They finished above Juventus in Group D to qualify for the knockout phase.
Chelsea eliminated Barcelona from the Champions League when these two sides played against each other in the semifinals of 2011/12 competition. However, there is no Drogba, Lampard or John Terry this time around to save Chelsea and they face a herculean task to stop the Barcelona juggernaut.
On that note, let’s take a look at the reasons why Barcelona will destroy Chelsea.
#5 Lone warrior Hazard finds no support from his teammates
In the last six Premier League games, Chelsea has scored only 10 goals and 6 of them came from the Belgian, Eden Hazard. Victor Moses scored 2 while Marcos Alonso and Willian scored one each.
It’s been quite a while since Alvaro Morata found the back of the net for Chelsea. After a brilliant start to his life at the Stamford Bridge, Alvaro Morata is struggling at the moment.
He last scored for Chelsea in December 2017 and in his last 15 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions, the Spaniard has scored only 4 goals. Giroud arrived from Arsenal last month but has made just one start for Chelsea so far.
The form of Pedro and Willian isn’t great either. Pedro has scored only 2 goals in his last 13 appearances for Chelsea while Willian has 2 from 10. If not for Eden Hazard’s brilliance, Chelsea’s season would have been a disaster. Hazard cannot single-handedly save Chelsea’s season and sooner or later, he needs some support from his teammates.