An Eden Hazard strike is all that stands between Chelsea and Barcelona at half time in the pre-season friendly meeting between the teams in Maryland.
The Blues started on the front foot and came close to opening the scoring in the fourth minute when Kurt Zouma's header from Cesc Fabregas's cross was palmed away by Barca stopper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Jose Mourinho's side broke the deadlock with 10 minutes played as Hazard ghosted through the Barcelona defence and rifled an unstoppable effort beyond Ter Stegen.
The Spanish champions' first meaningful effort came in the 15th minute when Luis Suarez picked out Ivan Rakitic with a through-ball, and the Croatian forced Blues goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois into action with a first-time strike that the Belgian could only parry.
End-to-end action followed as a glancing header from Suarez sailed narrowly over in the 23rd minute, and Oscar crashed an effort against the crossbar at the other end moments later.
It should have been 2-0 to Chelsea just after the half-hour mark as Diego Costa raced clean through on goal, only to put his effort wide with just Ter Stegen to beat.
Suarez looked determined to get his name on the scoresheet as the first half drew to close, but the in-form Courtois twice denied the former Liverpool man before the referee blew for half time.
Mark Langshaw
