How Chelsea can beat Barcelona in the first leg at Stamford Bridge

If Chelsea can pull off a two-legged victory against Barcelona, it could be a  galvanizing moment for the club.  It could help secure Antonio Conte, Eden Hazard and the rest of those Chelsea figures that the club needs.

This Chelsea team is weaker than the older, famous sides who used to have their way with Barcelona regularly. This is not the Damien Duff, Eidur Gudjhonsen, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba Blues.  This is the weak cry-their-way-to-the-bank version.

That said, if they can pull off a victory against Lionel Messi’s Barcelona, then maybe they will start to build the sort of character and backbone that defined previous iterations of this mighty club.

Andreas Christensen should play in the center of defence. As Chelsea’s crown jewel, he has been nothing if not the best thing about this season so far. He is the future heart of Chelsea’s defence. He will prove that on nights like this. If he is really going to occupy the position in the future, he must show he can bear the responsibilityon high pressure European nights.

To his left is Gary Cahill.  He has been in awful form recently, but Chelsea need him to be at his best. Cahill has to play on the side he and Christensen have become used to. The solidarity of the defence is going to be one of the most important things Chelsea has going for them during this period.

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On the right, then, is Antonio Rudiger, not Cesar Azpilicueta. The reason for this is two-fold. Rudiger’s athleticism and physicality will be able to cover for the defensive liabilities of Victor Moses. Moses will need to push forward in order to pin back Jordi Alba and prevent him providing the overlap option. This will leave space Rudiger will have to cover. His long stride and speed make him a solid option that will work well.

Of course, Moses will come back to help because of his high workrate. But the insurance policy provided by Rudiger as well as his threat in the air at set pieces will be important.

Azpilicueta should play as a defensive midfielder during this match. His job is simply to man-mark Messi out of the game. When he gets the ball, he needs to move it to either Christensen or his midfield partners.  No matter what, he needs to be conservative.

This move is akin to Rafael Benitez’s subbing on Dietmar Hamman at halftime during Liverpool’s famous Istanbul victory against AC Milan. Azpilicueta will be doing what Hamman did to Andrea Pirlo.

Azpilicueta is Chelsea’s most accomplished, tactical defender. He has concentration, tactical knowledge and a low center of gravity that will make it hard for Messi to beat him on the turn. Taking Messi out of the game by denying the ball and minimizing his impact will be important. Luckily, Chelsea have one of the few players smart enough and committed enough to do so properly. The best case scenario is Chelsea reduce the game to 10 v 10.

For the midfielder above Azpilcueta, the obvious choice is N’Golo Kante. The wildcard is Willian over Cesc Fabregas. It is a tough choice, but Fabregas offers too little speed. He is a marvelous passer. and there is no denying opinions on him have changed. The issue is with the other midfielders occupied Chelsea have no one to dedicate their day to protecting Fabregas’ backside. He could come off the bench if Chelsea were already behind, but Willian offers more in this role.

The best side Willian ever played in was the Shakhtar Donetsk team of the mid-2000’s. They were marvelous. In that side, Willian was a roaming central midfielder. On his day, he is a marvelous passer and still has the industriousness to make a tackle and effect play defensively. He is in-form at the moment and offers Chelsea one of the top three right-sided dead ball experts in Europe. In order to beat Barcelona, Chelsea will need to capitalize on dead ball situations.

Kante does not need to be explained but he does need to stop being married to the defensive midfield position. He is better as a box-to-box midfielder where his pace and work rate can be utilized further up the field. Kante will need to prove that he is the best midfielder in Europe yet again for Chelsea to win.

Eden Hazard will need to do the same. He will be putting out an ad to Real Madrid with a good performance, but Chelsea need him to be at his best. That version is a better and more effective player than Neymar and not the definition of what is wrong with Chelsea.

Finally, the striker is a hard choice between Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata. Giroud has done nothing but demonstrate how much better Chelsea are with a hard battling, physical and industrious center forward. He has shown everything wrong with Morata. Morata, though, playing well in his early matches, has done nothing but prove exactly why he served as a career backup to Cristiano Ronaldo.

His recent complaints of making a mistake by playing through pain are infuriating. People with broken legs would have scored some of the gilt-edged chances he has missed. His comments demonstrate exactly the attitude many have feared. He is too soft.

Morata ultimately has all the skills necessary to be a top striker without any of the mentality. His comments are all that much more infuriating because the player he has dreams of being, Ronaldo, highlighted before the 2014 World Cup that he “couldn’t remember” the day he last played pain-free.

If he is ever going to actually be the player he wants to be, he needs to show it.  If he can do that,  it will be the day Morata finally becomes the team leading Robert Lewandowski-esque striker he has always had the opportunity to be.

But if he keeps playing the way he has recently, Conte has him off at the half or sooner and Giroud can get in there and win the battle. Barcelona have always been susceptible to a hard battling center forward. If Morata can be one with his technique added, Chelsea can book a win. If he cannot, then Chelsea should try it with Giroud because it is the only chance they will have.

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Chelsea can beat Barcelona. It will be tough but Chelsea are the English side that does that, after all.