Chelsea continued their impressive run across all competitions as the Blues thrashed 10-man La Liga champions Barcelona 3-0 in their Champions League tie at Stamford Bridge.
Tuesday’s game was a high-stakes one for fans of both teams, who had been involved in regular social media clashes in the weeks leading up to this encounter, as Chelsea eventually bagged the bragging rights after the final whistle.
They are now unbeaten in six games across all competitions, with five wins and one draw, while Barcelona recorded their first defeat in their last five matches.
Enzo Fernandez thought he had given Chelsea the lead four minutes into the match after firing home a ball controlled by Wesley Fofana inside the box. However, the goal was ruled out after VAR deemed the ball had touched Fofana’s hand.
Barcelona had the chance to respond immediately after Lamine Yamal set up Ferrari Torres with a clean pass, but the Spaniard forward fired the ball wide as he went one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Fernandez was denied another goal in the 21st minute after VAR found he and Trevoh Chalobah were offside in the play leading to the goal.
The Blues finally managed to break the deadlock six times later after Jules Kounde mistakenly directed a flicked ball by Pedro Neto into his own net.
Barcelona were reduced to 10 men just before the break after their captain, Ronald Araujo, was sent off for a second yellow card following a reckless challenge on attacking Marc Cucurella.
Ten minutes into the second half, Chelsea doubled their lead through Estevao, who dribbled past several Barcelona players before latching the ball into the top-left corner of the net.
After the first half’s hard luck, Fernandez eventually secured a goal contribution in the 73rd minute, setting up unmarked Liam Delap, who nicely put the ball past Joan Garcia to seal the victory for Chelsea.
The result temporarily placed Chelsea in the automatic round-of-16 spot until other Champions League matches are decided on Wednesday.
Speaking after the match, Estevao said, “It’s the best moment in my career… my family is here, I’m so so happy. I don’t really have any words to sum up how I am feeling. It was all very quick for me. I found some space and wiggled my way through.”
In another shocking result of the night, Bayer Leverkusen stunned Manchester City 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium after several key players for the hosts, including Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki, started from the bench.
Alejandro Grimaldo opened the scoring for the visitors in the 23rd minute, latching home a pass from Christian Kofane before Patrik Schick secured the victory with a header from Ibrahim Maza’s cross nine minutes into the second half.
Full results
Chelsea 3 vs 0 Barcelona
Man City 0 vs 2 Bayer Leverkusen
Ajax 0 vs 2 Benfica
Galatasaray 0 vs 1 Union St.Gilloise
Bodo/Glimt 2 vs 3 Juventus
Dortmund 4 vs 0 Villarreal
Marseille 2 vs 1 Newcastle United
Salvia Prague 0 vs 0 Athletic Club
Napoli 2 vs 0 Qarabag F
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