Preview: Chelsea vs Barcelona - prediction, team news, lineups

Neck and neck in the Champions League standings at the midway point of the competition, Chelsea and Barcelona collide at Stamford Bridge in Tuesday's clash of the titans.

Both the Blues and the Blaugrana have collected seven points from their opening four games of the competition, a mixed bag of results that have left both outside of the automatic last-16 places in 12th and 11th respectively.

Match preview

The latest side to be stunted by surprise package Qarabag in Europe, Chelsea had to do it the hard way to even claim a point from their Azerbaijan-based hosts on matchday four of the Champions League, when Alejandro Garnacho rescued a 2-2 draw for the Club World Cup champions.

A four-goal Baku stalemate prolonged Chelsea's wait for their first away win in this season's Champions League, but Enzo Maresca's men are two for two on their own turf, where Benfica and Ajax have both been slain in the current campaign.

In fact, not since the pre-COVID days of 2019 have the Blues been beaten at Stamford Bridge in any European group stage/league phase, going unbeaten in 16 such games since that loss to Valencia six years ago - winning 12 of them.

Maresca's men have also hit a rich vein of domestic form before their blockbuster Barca battle, prevailing in each of their last three Premier League games without conceding a goal and rising to second in the table with a 2-0 success at Burnley on Saturday lunchtime.

The kids have been more than alright for Chelsea in recent weeks, as the Blues have now gone an astounding 50 Premier League games without naming a player aged 30 or older in their starting lineup, but both young and old are producing the goods for their Catalan counterparts.

The doors of Camp Nou finally swung open again on Saturday afternoon, when Barcelona won a match at their refurbished home for the first time in 909 days, putting four past Athletic Bilbao without reply on a wonderful welcome back.

Ferran Torres scored twice, Lamine Yamal assisted twice, Robert Lewandowski bagged his obligatory goal and Fermin Lopez also helped himself to one of his own for Hansi Flick's side, who have momentarily reclaimed first place in the La Liga table as a result.

Not only scoring another customary glut of goals, Barcelona kept their first clean sheet in 11 games during the 4-0 thumping of Athletic, who were unable to expose La Blaugrana's highest of high lines in the manner of some of their rivals.

Club Brugge were one of the teams to capitalise on Barca's all-or-nothing defensive strategy, holding Flick's side to an enthralling 3-3 draw last time out in the Champions League, in which the Spanish champions have conceded at least once in every game so far this season.

Barca shut Chelsea out in the most recent battle between the two clubs, though - a 3-0 last-16 success in the 2017-18 season - but the Blaugrana have won just one of their previous seven visits to Stamford Bridge, triumphing 2-1 en route to the 2005-06 trophy.

Chelsea Champions League form:

Chelsea form (all competitions):

Barcelona Champions League form:

Barcelona form (all competitions):

Team News

The Reece James alarm bells rang at Turf Moor on Saturday when the injury-plagued Chelsea captain was taken off at half time, but Maresca confirmed after the game that the change was pre-planned rather than as a consequence of a fresh problem.

Fellow defender Wesley Fofana was omitted from the matchday squad against Burnley for 'protection', so the Frenchman ought to be in contention to face the Spanish champions, but Tosin Adarabioyo warrants a start on Tuesday after a stellar display at the weekend.

Romeo Lavia (thigh), Cole Palmer (groin/toe), Dario Essugo (thigh) and Levi Colwill (knee) remain sidelined for the Blues, as does Mykhaylo Mudryk, who has now missed almost an entire year due to his doping suspension.

Barca boss Flick also took off one of his full-backs at the break on Saturday, as Alejandro Balde was withdrawn following a knock to the head, but there are currently no serious concerns about his availability for Tuesday.

Marcus Rashford's return to British shores is in some doubt due to illness, but Raphinha returned from a hamstring injury off the bench against Athletic, while two-goal Torres has done all he can to retain his spot.

Frenkie de Jong is also available again after serving a domestic suspension, but Pedri (hamstring), Gavi (knee) and Marc-Andre ter Stegen (back) are absent for the visitors.

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Sanchez; James, Adarabioyo, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Pedro, Garnacho; Delap

Barcelona possible starting lineup:

J. Garcia; Kounde, E. Garcia, Cubarsi, Balde; Casado, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski

We say: Chelsea 2-3 Barcelona

Boring battles are off the menu when Barcelona are playing; the Blaugrana's last six games have seen an astounding 30 goals, and there has been an average of 4.8 per match in each of their last 20 Champions League outings.

Chelsea's pacy wingers are well-placed to expose Flick's high line, but the simple fact is Barcelona possess multiple world-class attackers, whom we are backing to make the difference in a Champions League classic.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.