Chelsea and Barcelona will continue their respective pre-season campaigns with an International Champions Cup match at the FedEx Field in Maryland in the early hours of Wednesday morning (UK time).
Barcelona will enter the match off the back of a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United on Saturday evening, but Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain on penalties on the same evening to return to winning ways following defeat against the New York Red Bulls.
Chelsea
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Somewhat surprisingly, it has been a fairly quiet transfer window for Chelsea. While the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United have flexed their financial muscles, the Blues are seemingly content with their title-winning squad.
As a result, Chelsea's pre-season has not been as intensively addressed, which is perhaps a blessing for head coach Jose Mourinho. The Premier League champions opened their US tour with a 4-2 defeat against MLS side New York Red Bulls in a match that saw Asmir Begovic make his debut for the club.
A team that, in truth, stuttered over the line in the Premier League, were showing signs that they could do with some fresh input in the new campaign.
That point was further strengthened when they fell 1-0 behind to Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday night, but Victor Moses levelled the scores, before Chelsea emerged victorious in the penalty shootout. It was a performance that brought vast improvement.
Barcelona are now on the horizon for Chelsea in what is their penultimate pre-season match. Competitive action returns next weekend when Mourinho's side face Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley. Three days later, they will face Fiorentina in their final International Champions Cup fixture, before opening their Premier League defence at home to Swansea City on August 8.
There is expected to be transfer activity from now until the end of the window, but a team that so comfortably won the Premier League last season should face a much tougher challenge this time around. Facing Barca is always a good gauge of just what is needed.
Recent form: WWWLW
Barcelona
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How do you follow a season that brought the La Liga title, Champions League and the Copa del Rey? Well, that is the challenge facing Luis Enrique in the new campaign. Last season's utter domination was hugely impressive, but that is now the benchmark and indeed how they will be judged in the 2015-16 season.
Barcelona's transfer embargo, which is actually still in force until January 2016, was expected to harm the Catalan outfit this summer, but they have managed to bring in both Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal - neither of whom can play until the winter window opens. Pedro's future remains unclear, but the team are gearing up for another potentially history-making season.
The new La Liga campaign does not actually begin until August 23 - placing Barcelona behind Chelsea in their preparations for the new campaign. That said, Barca have Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup over two legs before the start of La Liga, in addition to a European Super Cup clash against Sevilla on August 11.
As a result, Barca's pre-season is only two games old. They opened their preparations with a 2-1 victory over Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday, but were beaten 3-1 by Manchester United on Saturday evening. In truth, the Catalan outfit were a little unfortunate to suffer defeat in that game, but Enrique will be keen to avoid back-to-back defeats against Premier League opposition.
Looking forward, Barca will face Fiorentina on Sunday, before leaving the United States and returning to Europe, where they will build towards the European Super Cup. Pre-season is of course all about fitness ahead of the new campaign, but there is always pressure on Barcelona to win.
Recent form: DWWWL
Team News
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Chelsea boss Mourinho handed new goalkeeper Begovic another start against PSG last time out, but first-choice stopper Thibaut Courtois is expected to return between the sticks for the clash with the Catalan outfit.
Oscar, Willian and Kurt Zouma could also come into the team as Mourinho shuffles his pack, but Diego Costa is expected to lead the line ahead of Loic Remy.
Youngsters Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nathaniel Chalobah will hope to be involved, but the XI that starts the match is expected to be similar to the one that starts the league season.
As for Barcelona, a decision has to be made whether Pedro is mentally right to start as the Spaniard continues to be linked with a move to Manchester United. Luis Suarez will once again lead the line, while Rafinha is expected to keep his spot in the team.
Further back, Ivan Rakitic should start after coming off the bench against Man United, while Munir El-Haddadi and Sandro Ramirez are also pushing for inclusion from the start, with still no Lionel Messi, Neymar and co. to call upon.
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta; Matic, Zouma; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Costa
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Bartra, Pique, Mathieu, Alba; Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic; Rafinha, Suarez, Munir
Head To Head
Chelsea will have fond memories of their last meeting with Barcelona, having knocked the Spanish club out of the Champions League in the 2011-12 season following a 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou, and then going on to lift the European Cup.
Chelsea's revenge would have been all the sweeter after losing out to Barcelona on away goals in the latter stages of the 2008-09 competition.
Somewhat surprisingly, four of the last five meetings between Chelsea and Barcelona have ended level.
We say: Chelsea 1-2 Barcelona
It is always difficult to judge what is going to happen in a pre-season match, perhaps more so between the bigger teams in Europe. Barcelona will dominate the ball for long spells, and it will be up to Chelsea to show their threat on the counter.
We think that it will be a fairly tight match in terms of chances, but are just predicting a narrow Barcelona victory in the US.
Matt Law
