As difficult as they come, Chelsea will have to cope with some 90 minutes of football at the Camp Nou against a very good and in form Barcelona. The narrative before this game, is against Chelsea due to their largely inconsistent form and Barcelona’s continuous good run but Gary Cahill says his side are ‘ready for the challenge’.
Barcelona know how to step it up when it matters most, especially in the Champions League, and same is true for Chelsea in their recent rich past. The Stamford Bridge outfit have produced some magical nights in football and one of them was at the Camp Nou.
When their backs are against the wall, Chelsea step it up and rewrite the notes of critics with powerful displays. A repeat tonight at the Camp Nou will silence many critics this season.
The story in London is that Chelsea have looked too ordinary this season, both domestically and in the Champions League, but if the performance at West London is anything to go by, Antonio Conte’s side might just be primed to shock the Catalunya faithfuls, and Cahill believes they have the right ingredients to produce that.
“Chelsea are being written off but it is the nature of the beast. If you’re looking at facts, this club has been very, very successful over the last 10 years, and since I have been here over the past six years.
You can have ups and downs. I can speak about myself and when I have been down I have bounced back. The same goes for the club. Let’s go there with confidence we can put in a good show and do the best we possibly can to get through to the next round. It’s poised nicely. We’ve got one game to try to go through against world-class opposition. We know it’s going to be tough but we’re ready for the challenge.”
Gary Cahill, Evening Standard
