Chelsea will face their biggest challenge this season as they take on arch-nemesis Barcelona in the Champions League for the fifth season in a row.
Chelsea have never won against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. Barca have won five and drawn two fixtures.
Can Chelsea do the impossible? Or will Barcelona maintain their neck hold of the Blues?
Preview
Chelsea is without Sam Kerr, a vital player who is in goalscoring form. In a weird turn of events, she will miss this game, the most crucial game in the calendar, as part of her rehabilitation, but will be with the National team next week.
“Sam is fine, she will probably be going with the national team next week,' said Bompastor, 'but she's not available for us again.
“It's just a case of managing her comeback. She got 90 minutes (against St. Polten) and it was part of the plan for her to rest a little bit after that and not be involved in the following two games.”
Lauren James, who came on in the game against St Polten, is in contention to start at Stamford Bridge. This is after she has made two substitute appearances in the last two matches, but was not called up for England
Bompastor explained that the decision was made jointly between club and country and outlined the role the forward might play on Thursday night.
“We had an excellent conversation with Sarina (Wiegman- England manager) and the staff, we just felt maybe it was not the right timing, or the call-up was coming a little bit soon for LJ (Lauren James). She is still in the process of getting fully fit. I think it was a good decision.
'She's available to start the game against Barcelona, probably not fully fit to play 90 minutes, but yeah, she's in a good place to start.'
She continued in their opposition by saying, “Against Barcelona, we might not get as many opportunities as we have created in some of our previous matches. When you play them, you need to be clinical. That's always what happens when you play against good teams. We are expecting that.”
Erin Cuthbert, who single-handedly won Chelsea their only victory in the fixture, said: “Aye, I want to get one over them every time, of course. I think when you play for a club like Chelsea, you want to put your best foot forward and perform. I think that's the thing over the last two games we played this year: I didn't think we performed at our best level. So I think the best thing we can do tomorrow is make sure we perform that we're super proud of.”
They are also without their number one goalkeeper, Hannah Hampton, who is out for several weeks with a quad injury. This means Livia Peng is getting the call-up and being pushed into the highest game of her club career to date. The only thing to say is she did save an Alexia Putellas penalty at the Euros this summer.
Chelsea have had a rocky few weeks with back-to-back draws in the WSL, the first time they’ve not won in back-to-back games since December 2021. However, they won 6-0 against St. Polten in Europe.
This is the best time for Chelsea to win; they have a deeper squad with 27 players, compared to just 18 senior players for Barca due to their financial woes.
Salma Paralluelo is out initially after the winter break with a partial MCL tear. While Ewa Pajor, who scored more than 50 goals for club and country last season, has only just returned from injury, but scored a brace against Real Madrid at the weekend, where they won the El Clásico 4-0.
The Catalan side's last Champions League result was a 3-0 victory over OH Leuven
Patricia Guijarro is out with a stress fracture in the navicular bone in the right foot.
Though the Spanish side suffered their earliest Liga F defeat in 11 years last month, it is the fifth league loss for the Catalans since the beginning of the 2019/20 season. The 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad was the first time they’ve failed to score in the league since January 2020.
Chelsea needs to win; they cannot afford to drop points if they don’t want to go into the play-offs for the quarterfinals.
Aggie Beever-Jones, Chelsea forward: "We know it’s not going to be an easy game by any means, but we have to prepare and look at their weaknesses, but equally focus on ourselves and our strengths. It will definitely give Barcelona a little bit of something different to think about if they drop some points and we win."
History of this rivalry
Barcelona has reached four of the last five Champions League finals, while knocking Chelsea out in four consecutive seasons across all meetings. Chelsea have conceded 14 goals and scored only five against the Spanish side
They have met three times in a row in the semi-finals, with Barcelona always getting the upper hand.
Over the last few seasons, Barcelona have repeatedly stood in their way, but if Chelsea can navigate injuries, hold firm tactically and finally break the pattern, it could mark a turning point in their continental journey.
For Barcelona, it's an opportunity to reinforce their status as Europe's benchmark in women’s club football. With momentum on their side, they will be confident in turning any advantage into a crucial three points.
They first met in the 2020/21 season. Chelsea, as a club, had made it to the men’s and the women’s Champions League final, the first of the women’s. Barca blew Chelsea away to win their first title with four goals in the opening 36 minutes—a defining moment in Barcelona’s rise and Chelsea’s European frustration.
The following year, they faced off in the semi-finals: the first leg was 1-0 to the Spanish side, and the second leg in London was a 1-1 draw, as the Blues were unable to overturn the deficit.
The 2022/23 season followed the same result: Barca won in London from Caroline Graham Hansen, and it ended 2-1 on aggregate to advance.
2023/24 saw signs of positivity, with Erin Cuthbert scoring a historic away goal to win 0-1 in Barcelona, the first and only victory the London side had managed against this opposition. But unfortunately, due to some poor refereeing and decision-making, including a red card, they lost 4-1 at home at Stamford Bridge
A smaller margin decided the previous season's winner, but in the 2024/25 season, when Chelsea looked like they could finally do it with the squad they had, they lost 8-2, and it all fell apart for them.
The worst was yet to come when Arsenal's league nemesis, Chelsea, won 1-0 in the final last season.
To summarise, really, Barcelona have prevented Chelsea at every opportunity from winning the Champions League, the only title they have not won.
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