Breaking down Chelsea’s potential UCL Round of 16 opponents
2. Barcelona
Why should Chelsea not fear Barcelona?
Barcelona has been very poor thus far this season. Wantaway talisman Lionel Messi has not played to his high standard this season, showing signs that he’s mortal after all. The Blaugrana have been lucky to be placed in the group which also contained Dynamo Kiev and Ferencvaros, or else they may have failed to make the knockout rounds.
Barcelona’s low point this season definitely has to be the away loss to Cadiz, which sounds absurd considering the teams involved, but goes to show how poor a season the Spanish side is having. Factor in the fact they have been very poor away from home in the Champions League in the knockout stages recently, enduring consecutive second leg away humiliations against AS Roma and Liverpool. Those defeats further culminated in that horrendous—as well as hilarious—8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in Lisbon and that leaves a mark on the collective psyche of the Barcelona players. Ronald Koeman has been most uninspiring appointment as Barcelona manager, so that would also work in the Blues’ favor.
Why should Chelsea fear Barcelona?
Barca has a very formidable European home record. The Blaugrana’s loss to Juventus last week broke a 38-game unbeaten home record in the Champions League, which is a record in the competition. Whenever they have played home legs at the Camp Nou, they have generally been very dominant. They also have this certain someone called Messi and even though he’s had a poor season, he could just as easily have a hot streak from now until the first knockout game and dispel all the rumours about his premature sporting decline. He’s the best player in the world and there’s a reason for it.
3. Lazio
Why should Chelsea not fear Lazio?
Lazio is languishing in eighth in the Serie A, enduring a wretched turn of form since football returned back in June last season. Three of its four losses in the Serie A have come at home, which shows a lack of fire without the fans. This is also the club’s first time in the Champions League since 2007/08 campaign, also being its first knockout round appearance since the 1999/2000 campaign. I Biancocelesti have also been in some controversy behind the scenes regarding positive test results with their crucial players like Ciro Immobile, Lucas Leiva and Thomas Strakosha testing negative for COVID-19 for their domestic fixtures, but mysteriously testing positive before European games. Their president, Claudio Lotito, added to matters by making some disparaging comments about women, which will not be repeated here. They also have struggled with injuries, with their squad depth being stretched to the limit, this makes for a tasty tie for the Blues.
Why should Chelsea fear Lazio?
Lazio finished unbeaten in its Champions League group despite missing some important players for those six games. I Biancocelesti have beaten a formidable Borussia Dortmund at home and they also have a very good young manager in Simone Inzaghi. Inzaghi has managed to make Lazio one of the few teams to take domestic silverware off Juventus in the last decade. They also have some very good players in the likes of aforementioned Immobile, Lucas, Strakosha and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. They are a team which is very good on the counter attack, which as we’ve seen, can pose problems for Chelsea.