The Catalan Romance continues . . .

Barcelona has drawn Chelsea, this time in the group league stage of the UEFA Champions League. I have developed this love-hate relationship with Barca. I’d love Chelsea to play them as much as I’d hate to play them. Chelsea seems to be hooked on so much to Barca nowadays, that even an FA Cup might draw find Chelsea playing Barca:-) Over the last two years, these two champion teams have met four times with one win apiece and two draws and scored 7 goals each and eliminated each other once from the Champions League. How even can this get?

This time, certainly the group of blood and death is Group A which features Barca, Chelsea & Werder Bremen. There is one good thing about facing Barca in the group league stage. Once Chelsea progresses to second group, there is no stronger team than Barcelona at the moment so Chelsea would already have been stretched to play their best football. I would love see these champions play each other as both these teams have strengthened their team since they played last in March.

I do believe that Barcelona is a stronger team than Chelsea but they Barca are beatable and we have proved that. The 4-2 win at the bridge that sent Barca packing was ‘the’ best football match I have ever seen for the quality and drama. And how many teams have score 4 goals against Barca in the last decade? And while people are writing off Chelsea against Barca in the group stages, no one knows how uncomfortable Barca feels about meeting Chelsea in group stage.

The draw:

Group A – Barcelona, Chelsea, Werder Bremen & Levski Sofia
Group B – Internazionale, Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon & Spartak Moscow
Group C – Liverpool FC, PSV Eindhoven, Bordeaux & Galatasaray
Group D – Valencia, AS Roma, Olympiakos & Shakhtar Donetsk
Group E – Real Madrid, Lyon, Steaua Bucuresti & Dynamo Kiev
Group F – Manchester United, Celtic, Benfica & FC Copenhagen
Group G – Arsenal, FC Porto, CSKA Moscow & Hamburg
Group H – AC Milan, Lille, AEK Athens & Anderlecht

The Chelsea matches are:

Matchday 1 – Tuesday Sept 12th: Chelsea v Werder Bremen
Matchday 2 – Wednesday Sept 27nd: Levski Sofia v Chelsea
Matchday 3 – Wednesday Oct 18th: Chelsea v Barcelona
Matchday 4 – Tuesday Oct 31st: Barcelona v Chelsea
Matchday 5 – Wednesday Nov 22nd: Werder Bremen v Chelsea
Matchday 6 – Tuesday Dec 5th: Chelsea v Levski Sofia