We look ahead to Tuesday’s Champions League game at Stamford Bridge with our Chelsea vs Barcelona prediction and preview, a clash that stirs memories of famous games from the past.
Chelsea vs Barcelona: The Key Stats
Chelsea are narrow favourites, with the Opta supercomputer rating their chances of a win against Barcelona at 41.7%.
Barcelona have won just one of their last nine UEFA Champions League matches against the Blues.
Marcus Rashford has made five goal contributions in his four Barcelona appearances in this competition.
Chelsea’s clash with Barcelona is arguably the biggest match in the UEFA Champions League this week. It is the only fixture on Matchday 5 between two clubs that were in Pot 1 when the draw was made.
It’s also important as both teams are just two points outside the top eight. As they have each already played a game against a Pot 1 club, this is the hardest remaining fixture for both on paper.
They will be hoping for a better result than they got in their previous match against one of the elite. Chelsea were beaten 3-1 at Bayern Munich, while Barcelona lost 2-1 at home to Paris Saint-Germain. Given their recent history in England, though, Barça might like the fact they are away for this game.
They have only lost two of their previous nine away games against English sides in the Champions League, winning six. Those defeats came against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in November 2016 (3-1) and Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool in May 2019 (4-0).
Chelsea will hope the impressive recent record of Premier League clubs against La Liga teams counts for something here. English sides have won nine of their last 10 games against Spanish clubs in the Champions League, with Barcelona’s 2-1 victory at Newcastle United in September the exception. Since that game, English teams have won four in a row without conceding against Spanish opponents: Arsenal 4-0 Atlético Madrid, Villarreal 0-2 Man City, Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid and Newcastle 2-0 Athletic Club.
The win Barça enjoyed at St James’ Park came largely thanks to Marcus Rashford, who scored twice. He has delivered four goals and an assist in four Champions League games for Barcelona. The only player with more than five goal involvements through their first five appearances for the Catalans in the competition is Hristo Stoichkov, who scored five goals and set up a further three in 1994. It’s a niche stat but a decent one for Rashford to have considering the history of players at the club.
Marcus Rashford 2025-26 UCL Stats
He missed Barcelona’s 4-0 win against Athletic Club on Saturday in their first game back at the renovated Camp Nou due to illness, but may be able to return here. Frenkie de Jong also sat out due to a suspension that won’t apply in this competition. Alejandro Balde went off at half-time so may miss this game, while Gavi, Pedri and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen won’t be involved.
Rashford’s form has helped Barcelona score in each of their last 24 games in the Champions League (amassing 67 goals in total); the longest current run by any team. Their manager Hansi Flick has also never seen an opponent keep a clean sheet against one of his teams in the competition in 36 attempts (18 each with Barça and Bayern).
Their ability to always score gives them a great chance of beating a Chelsea side carrying several injuries. Cole Palmer is their most notable absentee, though Levi Colwill, Dario Essugo and Roméo Lavia will also miss out.
At least Enzo Maresca should be able to call upon Estêvão. The teenager is Chelsea’s top scorer in the 2025-26 Champions League, finding the net in each of his first two starts. He could become the second youngest player to score in each of his first three Champions League starts (18y 215 on the day of this game), after Kylian Mbappé for Monaco in 2017 (18y 113d).
Estevao xG UCL after MD4 2025-26
While the Brazilian is particularly young, many of his teammates are not much older. In terms of average age, Chelsea have the youngest starting XI in the Champions League this season, at 23 years and 278 days. The Blues have handed starts to 14 different players aged 23 or younger in 2025-26, the most of any side.
Barcelona’s experience may tell. They have been shown the most yellow cards (12) in the competition this season, despite making the fifth-fewest fouls (37). In addition, no team has had more different players with a yellow (8) in the current tournament than Flick’s side, suggesting they are not shy about taking a caution to stop a promising attack. The Blues’ young guns could be up against it on Tuesday evening.
Chelsea vs Barcelona Head-to-Head
The recent head-to-head history has largely belonged to Chelsea, particularly when Barcelona visit west London.
The Blues have only lost one of their last nine meetings with Barcelona in the Champions League, albeit six of those matches were drawn. The lone defeat in that run came in their most recent clash though – 3-0 at the Camp Nou in March 2018; a result that saw them eliminated at the last-16 stage as they lost 4-1 on aggregate.
Barcelona have only won away to Chelsea once in their previous eight attempts in Europe, losing five times. The victory in question was a 2-1 win in February 2006 in this competition, with a John Terry own goal and a strike from Samuel Eto’o helping the visitors come from behind.
Chelsea vs Barcelona Prediction
The Opta supercomputer is just about backing the home side at Stamford Bridge. The margins between the predictions are not wide, though.
Chelsea are the favourites as they won in 41.7% of the 10,000 simulations of the match. Barcelona were not far behind on 34.5%, with the chance of a draw rated at 23.8%.
The Blues have the head-to-head history and the supercomputer on their side, but will that be enough for them to claim three valuable points?
Chelsea vs Barcelona Prediction
Chelsea vs Barcelona Predicted Lineups
Chelsea: Robert Sánchez, Reece James, Tosin Adarabioyo, Jorrel Hato, Marc Cucurella, Andrey Santos, Moisés Caicedo, Estêvão, Jamie Gittens, João Pedro, Pedro Neto.
Head coach: Enzo Maresca
Barcelona: Wojciech Szczesny, Jules Koundé, Ronald Araujo, Eric García, Alejandro Balde, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Casadó, Fermín López, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Ferran Torres.
Head coach: Hansi Flick
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Tuesday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
UEFA Champions League Stats Opta
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