Chelsea v Barcelona, ​​Getty Images November 25, 2025, 11:55 p.m

The next round of the main stage of the UEFA Champions League, as promised by the organizers and ideologues of changes in the regulations of this tournament, presented us with a bright confrontation with a loud poster. It so happened that after the matches between the London Chelsea and the Catalan Barcelona in the past two decades, there were many disputes constantly raging, and even these confrontations themselves were clearly not similar to friendly duels in their nature.

This time, the fifth round of the league stage suggested that it was a long game for both teams, so each of them had the right to make a mistake. However, the victory in the duel, to which the attention of almost the whole world was focused this evening, still weighed a lot. That is why we saw such a spectacular duel in the end.

Of course, we will talk, first of all, about the performance of Enzo Maresca’s team. Because Chelsea immediately showed a desire to demonstrate who is the master of the situation at Stamford Bridge and actively pressed the opponents and even scored a quick ball. In the fourth minute, Fofana helped himself with his hand when receiving a pass from the right wing in the near corner of the goalkeeper, so his subsequent cross to Enzo did not make much sense.

But Barca’s response could have flown completely within the framework of the rules, because Chelsea failed during the first attempt of the opponents to actively press in the other half, and only Ferran Torres’ mistake past the right post in the center of the penalty area was able to level the error of James and Caicedo near their own goal. Then the captain of the “Blues” actively began to shoot at the other side’s goal from a long distance, but did not hit the target.

Instead, James’ effort was needed for another, particularly in the second half. While in the first Enzo scored another goal from offside in the 24th minute, completing Estevan’s pass from the left wing, but in a few more moments nothing could save the “Blaugranas” from a completely legitimate… own goal. Yes, it was Kunde who played clumsily in the situation with Net’s goalkeeping attempt to finish Cukurelli’s cross from the right wing of the penalty area with his heel and cut the ball into his own goal between the legs of Ferran, who tried to save the situation.

All this time, Barcelona was pressed into its own penalty area and almost did not rely on the attack. And what was left for her to do even after Araujo doubled the number of warnings on his own account in the 44th minute with a foul against Cukurella on the right flank of the defense, while he received the first yellow card for wanting to talk to the head referee. Oh, and the captain.

And already at the beginning of the second half, it became clear that Barca will not get anywhere in this game from the defeat. For Chelsea scored a second time with the effort of Estevan, who from James’ pass to the right wing of the penalty area fired the near corner over the head of Joan Garcia. Flick constantly tried to twist the scheme of his own team, which played in the minority, but it did not help in any way.

In the end, the visitors conceded a third goal already in the 73rd minute, when Enzo first waited for Neto’s pass to be offside on the left side of the penalty area, and then calmly rolled a cross for Delap to finish. For the rest of the game, the “blues” were brave against the background of the opponent, whose famous names remained only the inscriptions on the T-shirts.

In the next round, Chelsea of ​​London will visit Atalanta of Bergamo, while Barcelona of Catalonia will host Eintracht Frankfurt.

Ronald Araujo (Barcelona) was sent off in the 44th minute (second caution).